It is an accepted rule of football that, in any two-legged tie, it is an advantage to play the second match at home.
In any competition you care to name, it's a given - including the big daddy of club football, the Champions League.
That's why many people have backed Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to reach the final of Europe's top competition this year. The four heavyweights in the semi-finals- Real, Bayern, Juventus and Barcelona - all seem evenly matched, so the simple fact Real and Bayern will play their second legs at home seems to give them a slight edge.
It seems that the so-called advantage of playing at home in the second leg has actually proven to be a curse in every semi-final for the last three years.
Conclusion? Get your money on a Juventus v Barca final…
