European cups, the possible dates for the restart

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European cups, the possible dates for the restart

European cups, the possible dates for the restart

Champions League and Europa League, the possible dates of August to complete the cups

With the return of the Bundesliga next weekend and the resumption of the championship in South Korea, there has also been a lot of talk in recent days about the possible dates on the resumption of the Champions League. Speculation fueled by Marca, the Spanish newspaper with sources close to UEFA, and also taken up by Lyon president Jean-Michael Aulas who had initially indicated on 7 August the day of the return of the round of 16 against Juventus, which remained outstanding after the 1-0 in the first leg. Subsequently, the French manager has retraced his steps and also UEFA has specified that nothing official has yet been decided, nor could it be at a time when Liga, Premier League and Serie A have no certainty about the restart. However, in Nyon a rough schedule is circulating and the goal remains to complete the Champions League and Europa League in their original formula, that is, with round trips to the final. Here’s what the two possible calendars might look like in August.

Champions League

August 7 – round of 16 return, Juve vs Lyon and Manchester City vs Real Madrid
August 8 – return round of 16, Bayern Munich vs Chelsea and Barcelona vs Napoli
August 11th and 12th – quarter finals
14 and 15 August – quarter-final return
August 18 and 19 – semi-final first leg
21 and 22 August – semifinal return
August 29 – final in Istanbul

Europa League

2 and 3 August – Sevilla vs Roma, Inter-Getafe and return round of 16
August 6 – return round of 16 Roma vs Sevilla and Getafe-Inter
August 10 – quarterfinals
August 13th – quarterfinals return
August 17 – semi-final first leg
August 20 – semifinal return
August 27 – final in Gdansk or Istanbul

In UEFA’s plans, the intention is to transform August into a month dedicated exclusively to European cups, with matches practically every day from 6 to 22 August. The possibility of this scenario being completed naturally depends on a primary condition, i.e. that the national championships in which the teams taking part in the knockout phase are involved will resume and be completed by 30 July, which is not at all obvious. Paradoxically, in a Uefa perspective, a solution such as that adopted by France, Belgium and Holland would be preferable, that is, championships definitively interrupted with the possibility of planning the following season and teams that resume playing the cups directly. Solution that would entail enormous problems from an economic point of view. Furthermore, compressing the calendar with the cups to follow the national championships in this way would put players at an enormous risk of injury and one thing is to play in July and August summer friendlies and another the games that are worth the season. The other doubt is related to the management of positive players who will hardly miss them, as seen in the tests of the Italian teams and also in those of the German second division teams. One could only play with the guarantee that the positives will be isolated allowing the rest of the players and teams to continue the activity. A different solution, such as the one proposed in Italy by the technical-scientific committee to also quarantine all the players and the people in contact with the positives, would in fact prevent football from starting again indefinitely.