The remaining part of the Champions League – standing postponed since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic – will not have the traditional two-legged ties.
UEFA Champions League's ambassador Hamit Altintop poceeds to the UEFA Champions League football cup round of 16 draw on December 16, 2019 in Nyon. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
UEFA Champions League 2019-20 is set to be completed with a ‘Final Eight’ tournament to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in over 11 days, according to a plan by the European governing body of football. UEFA, though, has not yet made an official announcement.
According to a report on India Today, the plan will be proposed to the executive committee of UEFA for ratification on Wednesday. However, a source was quoted as saying in the report that the proposal is likely to be agreed upon.
Under the plan, the remaining part of the Champions League – standing postponed since March due to the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – will not have the traditional two-legged encounters.
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The four quarter-finals will be played on consecutive days from August 12 to `15, while the semi-finals will be played on August 18 and 19 and the final on August 23.
The remaining four second-leg matches of the Round of 16 will be played before. The fixtures include Real Madrid’s trip to Manchester City, Juventus’ home game against Olympique Lyon, Chelsea’s visit to Bayern Munich and Barcelona’s home leg against Napoli.
France’s Paris St Germain, Italy’s Atalanta, Spain’s Atletico Madrid and Germany’s RB Leipzig have already qualified for the quarter-finals.
The games will be played behind closed and follow much of the same patterns that leagues across Europe have adopted to resume their respective seasons.
The Champions League games are likely to be played at the two major stadiums in Lisbon – Benfica’s Estadio da Luz and Sporting Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade stadium.
Istanbul, which was the original venue to host the final of this year’s Champions League, will now stage the top-flight European club competition’s ultimate clash in 2022.
Meanwhile, a similar method will be used to finish the season on UEFA Europa League at venues in German cities Duisburg, Duesseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Cologne from August 10.
The traditional European season opener, the UEFA Super Cup, is likely to be played in Budapest on September 24.
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