UEFA has confirmed that the outstanding Champions League and Europa League last-16 second leg matches will be hosted by the clubs who were scheduled to play at home.
Four Champions League fixtures, including Manchester City against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich versus Chelsea, have still to be played, while in the Europa League, there are six second legs to be played, plus two fixtures that will be played as one-off ties after the first legs were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As anticipated, all these fixtures will be played behind closed doors.
In a statement, UEFA said: “Consistent with the principle of sporting fairness and considering that current conditions – all clubs due to play at home in the return leg of the Round of 16 and are currently playing the remaining matches of their domestic leagues in their own stadiums, and that travelling is possible without restrictions for the visiting clubs – the UEFA Executive Committee decided that the remaining Champions League and Europa League round of 16 second-leg matches will be played at the home teams’ stadiums.
“As already communicated in June, the ties of Inter v Getafe and Sevilla v Roma, whose first legs were also postponed, will be played as a single leg in Germany.
“UEFA will continue to monitor the situation and reserves the right to reassign any such matches to the venues of the final tournament of the relevant competition should new events occur that would make it impossible to play one or more matches at the original venues.
“The respective fixture lists will be communicated after tomorrow’s draws at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.”
Additionally, UEFA have confirmed that qualifying fixtures for the 2020-21 continental competitions will be played as one-off matches, rather than home and away, and these matches will also be played without a crowd present in the stadium “for reasons of sporting fairness”.
The quarter-final stages of the Champions League are scheduled to be played in Lisbon, while the final stages of the Europa League are slated to take part in Cologne.
The Champions League final will be played on August 23, with the Europa League showpiece two days earlier. (AFP)
