This is a date that all football fans mark on their calendar. Weaned from their favorite sport for several weeks and forced to wait at the end of August for the return of the League 1, they hope to have another opportunity to vibrate from 12 to 23 August, on the occasion of the “Final 8” of the champions League. While there’s still half of the eighth-final return to play (including the one in Lyon against Juventus), the UEFA has unveiled its program to go at the end of this competition.
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The goal is to reunite the last eight teams in Lisbon, in a tournament final to direct elimination. An original format which has what to do dream. But The Parisian puts the finger on a problem for a month and a half of this great event : will it be wise to keep this competition if the numbers of the coronavirus continue to climb in Lisbon ? If we put aside the quality of the sports infrastructures, Portugal, and its capital city were not chosen randomly, since the number of cases of coronavirus is lower than many other european countries. But a rise is to report these last few days, in particular in Lisbon.
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More than 7% of the cases Portuguese in Lisbon
At 20 June, Portugal has identified 38 841 cases official and 1 528 deaths, says the Diario de Noticias. But between the 19 and 20 June, 75 % of the some 377 new cases in the country have been reported in the region of Lisbon-and-Val-de-Tajo, where the containment measures were lifted on 15 June, as in the rest of the country. The newspaper Correio da Manhã says that Lisbon has exceeded the threshold of 3 000 cases, and represents more than 7% of the number of cases in the country (19 June), while it accounts for 4.9% of the Portuguese population.
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“Portugal has an average activity, which is not high. It has managed rather well to the first wave, but finds himself in the end with a curve that does not descend as in its neighbours in Spain. France also has about 300 cases per day, but it is not on the same size of country. So it’s a bit more of a concern in Portugal, even if the health system is not saturated, and not alert”, analysis of Antoine Flahault, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Geneva, in the columns of the Parisian.
Without fans in the stands ?
The concern is not still, either on the side of the Portuguese authorities or UEFA. But this increase could resolve the question about the presence of the supporters in the stadiums for these matches, much to the chagrin, for example, fans of PSG, already qualified after its victory against Borussia Dortmund. “If I answer today, I don’t think spectators will be in the quarter-final, semi-final or final of the champions League, but things are changing”, said Aleksander Ceferin, president of the UEFA, whose remarks were relayed by ESPN. He then stated that a new item would be done about it at the beginning of July. Remains to be seen how Portugal and Lisbon will manage a possible influx of supporters, eager to at least enjoy the atmosphere of the city without being able to go to the stadium. Another question on which the authorities will have to address in the coming weeks.
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Baverez – Déconfinons football !
