Malta Independent

UEFA Champions League final set for Lisbon, Portugal

- DOMENIC AQUILINA

This season's UEFA Champions League and Europa League competitio­ns will be completed in August with 'final eight' tournament­s in Lisbon, Portugal and in cities across Germany.

The Women's Champions League will also be a knockout tournament, in northern Spain between the 21st to 30th of August.

All UEFA club competitio­ns came to a suspension in March because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Uefa also confirmed that all 12 original host cities will stage matches in the already delayed Euro 2020 finals.

That competitio­n will now start on 11 June 2021. The outstandin­g play-off matches will be staged during the internatio­nal windows starting on 8 October and 12 November, respective­ly.

Asked about EURO 2020 and what could happen if a second COVID-19 wave takes place, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin replied "We do not know what will happen until then, so for the moment we stick to these dates".

The Champions League will resume with the second-leg of the remaining last 16 games played on 7 and 8 August - Manchester City have yet to play their home leg against Real Madrid in Manchester, Chelsea have to visit Bayern Munich, Juventus host Lyon in Turin and Napoli meet Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

UEFA said it has yet to decide whether to host the matches at the home grounds of the home teams or at a neutral venue.

The subsequent knockout rounds will be single-legged meetings and will be hosted in Lisbon between 12 to 23 August. The final has been scheduled for 23 August in the Portuguese capital in all probabilit­ies at the Estadio Da Luz.

Istanbul, originally appointed to stage the 2020 final, will now host the 2021 final.

The Europa League will be back as from 10 August. The remaining last 16 games will be played between the 5th and 6th August.

As is the case with the Champions League competitio­n, Uefa stated: "A decision will be made in due course on whether these matches for which the first leg has already been played will be staged at the home team's venue or in Germany.

"Inter Milan v Getafe and Sevilla v Roma, whose first leg was also postponed, will be played as a single leg at a venue to be confirmed."

The Women's Champions League, where both Arsenal and Glasgow City have already reached the last eight, will be held in Bilbao and San Sebastian between the 21st and 30th August.

The final will be in San Sebastian on the 30th August.

 ?? Photo © Domenic Aquilina ?? The Estadio Da Luz hosted the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
Photo © Domenic Aquilina The Estadio Da Luz hosted the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
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