IF HE THINKS THE POINT IS TO SCORE AND WIN HE HASN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION:

Two-legged knockout isn't soccer (Gabriele Marcotti, 2/26/09, Sports Illustrated)

Half an hour after going down to a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the Champions League, Roma's Philippe Mexes stopped on his way to the team bus to chat with the media.

"It could have been better, but it's not a bad result," he said. "It's manageable, we'll sort it out in the return leg."

Around the same time, over in Milan, Manchester United players were expressing concern after holding Inter to a scoreless draw. The thinking was that United could have done more to put the game away and that it would have been better if it had managed a 1-1 draw.

Ah, the vagaries of two-legged knockout competition and that thing we call the "away-goals rule." We probably don't think about it because we're so used to it, but when you break it down, competitions like the Champions League might as well be a different sport from domestic leagues.

The basic principle that you can lose and be happy (especially when you lose 3-2, the "dream defeat") seems alien not just to soccer, but to sports in general. Equally, the fact that drawing 0-0 on the road is somehow worse than drawing 1-1 or 2-2 also feels wrong.

Isn't the point of the game to go and win?