The epilogue of the champions League 2019-2020 is near. Left hanging mid-march, in the heart of the eighth-finals, because of the health crisis, the Champions League is expected to make his grand return in the month of August. Its format should be extensively modified to give way to a knockout tournament, played in Lisbon. UEFA is expected to formalize that decision, on 17 and 18 June, during its executive committee pushed back three weeks to the 27th of may.
Read also sporting Events 2020 : what will resume, which is cancelled
matches choppers on a week
matches the single-elimination tournament from the quarter-finals, this is what it should look like the end of the tournament of League of champions 2019-2020. A format shortcut also logical, given the schedule and constraints health, as exciting a sporting point of view. This tournament will start from quarter-finals, after the last four eighth-finals to be played as it is still four matches to play : Juventus-Lyon (0-1 at the round), Manchester City-Real Madrid (2-1), Bayern Munich-Chelsea (3-0) and Barcelona-Naples (1-1).
Read also The match OL – Juventus, the gateway to the coronavirus in Lyon ?
For the time being, if no information has filtered on the dates, UEFA would have planned to play the eighths remaining on 8 and 9 August next, to organize the quarterfinals from the 12 August, with a closure 23. As a reminder, the four teams are already qualified for this stage of the competition, namely Atlético Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain (winner of the Borussia Dortmund), the RB Leipzig and Atalanta Bergamo.
The Portugal acclaimed
While Istanbul was to host the grand final of the cup with the big ears, it is finally to Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, which has been preferred for reasons of logistics and health. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has been praised for his handling of the crisis. He has scored less than 35 000 cases and 1 500 deaths, becoming one of the countries least affected in Europe. In implementing its confinement and in closing its borders after the announcement of the first deaths linked to the coronavirus, 16 march, Portugal was an example in terms of reactivity.
Two stages in city limits, will be used for the seven meetings will be on the program : the stadium of the Luz, which usually houses the games of Benfica, and the stadium José Alvalade, home to those of Sporting. Play the quarters, semi and finals in a country therefore allows us to simplify the movements that remain problematic in the light of the restrictions that exist everywhere in Europe, and allow for the potential foster to the public. The eighth-finals still in progress could also take place in Portugal, but the question remains unresolved.
A Europa League in Germany
As for the C3, has also been suspended at the stage of the knockout, Cologne (Germany) would hold the rope to host the tournament from the quarter-finals. Failing that, Frankfurt might be an alternative. Modelled on the model of the champions League, the quarterfinals should be performed with the single-elimination tournament format.
In girls, the champions League, where Lyon (quadruple titleholder) and PSG are qualified in the quarter, will be run according to the same process. Still in the iberian peninsula, in Saint-Sébastien and Bilbao (Spain), the eight competing teams will advance to a Final 8 from 21 to 30 August. There is still a small week-on-week UEFA to fine-tune its plans, it is expected to formalize next Wednesday these scenarios during the first day of the executive committee of UEFA.
