The wait for the Champions League to resume its season — which is now in the knockout stage — continues.
In the meantime, UEFA has been busy setting plans for its possible return and already has a date for the final pencilled in. They’ve also laid down guidelines for how the different leagues can decide qualification for European competitions next season.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Champions League match with Atletico Madrid is set to be investigated for its possible impact on the coronavirus outbreak.
As always, SBOBET is here to break down all the key updates surrounding Europe’s premier club tournament.
UEFA targeting August 29 for Champions League final
UEFA is still hopeful that the 2019-20 season will be able to resume following the pause in play due to the pandemic.
According to the BBC’s Simon Stone, their plan is to have the Champions League final held in Istanbul on August 29.
There are two potential formats being considered to make that date. The first is to play the quarter-finals and semi-finals as two-legged matches as normal, in July and August.
The second would be for the games to be played as one-legged affairs after the end of the domestic seasons, which could result in a condensed week-long mini-tournament.
Earlier Champions League 2020 results saw Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, and Atletico Madrid make their way through to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, the Real Madrid-Manchester City, Chelsea-Bayern Munich, Napoli-Barcelona, and Lyon-Juventus ties still have to play their respective second legs.
It would make sense for the Champions League to limit the number of games and reduce the amount of work that would be necessary to pull those games off.
Moreover, it would be interesting to see the Champions League return to the single-elimination format of the old European Cup.
However, it still seems optimistic for UEFA to hope that they can end the season by the end of August. A lot of things can still change surrounding the whole pandemic situation, and UEFA will have to adjust.
Possible playoffs for Champions League qualification
After meeting on August 23, UEFA made it clear in their statement that completing domestic seasons in their original formats remains “the ideal scenario.”
But if it isn’t possible to play out the season in full, then UEFA would prefer the leagues to come up with a “different format” and stressed that qualification for next season’s European competitions can only be “based on sporting merit.”
That statement from UEFA has opened up the possibility of a playoff format being used to decide which clubs would get their league’s European places.
The Bundesliga and Serie A are stepping up efforts to get their respective seasons back up and running. But La Liga
Despite disagreement from fans, the Bundesliga is planning return on May 9. Meanwhile, the Italian prime minister has confirmed teams will be allowed to resume training with the hope that the league could resume by the end of May or the start of June.
However, La Liga still hasn’t made public plans for a potential restart to its season. The race for La Liga’s last two Champions League spots is very tight, with Sevilla, Real Sociedad, Getafe, and Atletico Madrid separated by just two points. A potential playoff involving those four teams would make for an interesting spectacle.
Liverpool-Atletico Madrid match to be investigated
The Liverpool city council is set to investigate the Champions League second leg match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid and its possible impact on the coronavirus situation.
The move comes after the mayor of Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, called for an independent inquiry into whether the match should have taken place.
Liverpool’s stunning defeat to Atletico Madrid at Anfield was the last big football match played in England before the coronavirus shutdown.
There were already calls for the match to be called off, with Madrid already under partial lockdown. But the match still took place as scheduled, with around 3,000 Atleti fans making the trip to Anfield.
In hindsight, that match probably should not have taken place given how hard both England and Spain were struck by the pandemic. The continuation of large gatherings like football matches likely didn’t help efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
The probe won’t change the fact that Atletico defied the Champions League 2020 odds to knock the holders out. However, it could go some way toward preventing a similar mistake from happening again.
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