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Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was among a number of top coaches who discussed the possibility of scrapping extra time in UEFA competitions. Currently, knockout matches that are level after 90 minutes go to 30 minutes of extra time, before being decided on penalties if a stalemate remains. At the 18th UEFA Elite Club Coaches Forum on Wednesday, the proposal to abolish extra time and go straight to penalties was discussed, in a meeting chaired by UEFA Coaching Ambassador Ferguson. Current United boss Jose Mourinho, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane were among those in attendance in Nyon. "I don't think we like to see players exhausted in extra-time and when the whistle goes at the end of 90 minutes, I've always the feeling it's going to go to penalty kicks," Ferguson said. "You saw in the last Champions League final, players walking about... it's inevitable that it goes to penalty kicks so the question is how we can improve it?" UEFA's chief technical officer Ioan Lupescu added: "Some coaches said it could be direct to penalties, others thought that could be an advantage for the smaller teams who could defend more. "One thing that is very clear is that these days the players play so many matches and we raised the question whether from their point of view it is still worthwhile having extra-time."
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