Second Leg Home Advantage
Each team hosts one match, and there is no intended advantage to whether a team plays at home first or second. However, lots of managers and players believe that the team playing at home for the second leg has a slight advantage over the other team. The thinking is that the team playing away for the first leg can play it safe there (a draw or even a slight defeat is considered a favourable result), and then "win" the tie at home in the second leg. For example, in the draw for the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League, the group runners-up will play the first leg at home, while the group winners will play the second leg at home. A statistical analysis of roughly 12,000 matches from the European club competitions between 1956 and 2007 showed that around 53% of teams playing at home in the second leg won the tie (even after controlling for the fact that team playing at home in the second leg tend to be better teams). This effect has however decreased over time.
Read more about this topic: Two-legged Tie
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