Thierry Henry calls for the return of scrapped Champions League rule after Inter Milan’s 3-3 thriller against Barcelona

By TAMARA PRENN

Thierry Henry appeared to call for the return of the away goals rule in the aftermath of the bombastic Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona. 

The visitors at the Estadio Olimpic Lluis Companys came within milimeters of clinching the first leg of the final-four clash after former Arsenal star Henrikh Mkhitaryan netted late in the second-half. 

But the linesman was quick to raise his flag, and semi-automated offside ruled out what would have been a thrilling conclusion to the high-octane 3-3 draw. 

The hosts came from behind twice to share the spoils, chasing Inter Milan from the first minute of the game after Marcus Thuram stunned the Barcelona faithful into silence with his neatly flicked goal. 

Denzel Dumfries doubled Inter’s lead 20 minutes later, but it took just three more for the Blaugrana to finally get on the scoresheet courtesy of a moment of magic from teenage starlet Lamine Yamal. 

Ferran Torres drew Barcelona level ahead of the break, but Lamal was forced to play catch-up again in the second-half after Dumfries scored his second. 

“How can you score three goals away from home and not have an advantage.”

Thierry Henry has his say on the away goals rule, which was scrapped in 2021, after Inter’s impressive display in Barcelona 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ZpFegA6vpv

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 30, 2025

Inter Milan will go into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final with Barcelona on level footing

The Serie A side scored three times on the road but Barcelona chased down their lead twice

Thierry Henry has argued the importance that away goals used to have in European clashes

In light of the impressive effort from Inter, Henry wondered if the team should have got more from the fixture ahead of the second-leg at the San Siro. 

‘I know it’s been like that for a very time, and we have to accept it,’ Henry said of the removal of the away goals rule, ‘But off air I was talking to Jamie (Carragher), and I was like, “how can you score three goals away from home and you don’t have an advantage?”

‘Away goals for me were massive, you score three goals away and you still don’t have an advantage 0-0 at home,’ Henry shrugged. 

UEFA took the decision to scrap the rule which gave goals scored away from home the ability to act as a tiebreaker in the case of level scorelines ahead of the 2021-22 season. 

Current FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger claimed during his time as Arsenal manager in 2015 that the away goals rule ‘encouraged the team at home not to attack’ and that ‘the weight of the away goal (was) too big today’. 

Without the rules, the tie at San Siro will go to extra time and penalties to decide which teams books their spot in the Champions League final. 

But based on Wednesday evening’s performance, Henry seemed to give Inter a fighting chance against the newly minted Copa del Rey champions. 

‘I didn’t think that Inter Milan was going to perform how they did for how they played recently,’ Henry continued. 

The Serie A side have been challenging for league honours for most of the season but have suffered a small blip in form of late, losing to Roma and Bologna in their last two domestic ties. 

‘You have to give them a lot of credit for matching up what Barcelona gave them, coming strong in the game,’ Henry said. ‘To be honest, I didn’t expect that.’ 

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Thierry Henry calls for the return of scrapped Champions League rule after Inter Milan’s 3-3 thriller against Barcelona

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