Many of the continent's most celebrated managers met in Nyon, Switzerland on Wednesday for the 18th UEFA Elite Club Coaches Forum, and among the host of topics discussed was the elimination of extra-time in European competitions.

As it stands, knockout matches that finish level after 90 minutes are followed by two 15-minute halves, prompting penalties should the score remain tied.

Former Manchester United gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and the likes of Jose Mourinho, Max Allegri, Zinedine Zidane, and Luis Enrique were among those in attendance.

The collection of Europe's best managers proposed having a match go straight to penalties after 90 minutes, in a meeting chaired by UEFA coaching ambassador Ferguson.

"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 conceded

We're live at the press conference for the #EliteCoachesForum with Sir Alex Ferguson and Sirhiy Rebrov 🎙🎥 pic.twitter.com/ta5O1UjszE — UEFA (@UEFA) August 31, 2016

"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?"

Ferguson's comments were coupled with a statement from UEFA's chief technical officer Ioan Lupescu, who offered, "Some coaches said it could be direct to penalties, others thought that could be an advantage for the smaller teams who could defend more."

The managers also discussed the away goals rule, time wasting and Video Assisted Referee technology (VAR), though it was changes towards extra-time that dominated proceedings.

"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," Lupescu added.