Champions League final now in Porto

Paris – The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on 28 May has been moved from Istanbul to Porto to allow English fans to travel under Covid-19 restrictions, European soccer’s governing body Uefa said yesterday.

The final was scheduled for Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, but Turkey was put on Britain’s travel ‘red list’, meaning that no English fans would be able to attend the game. It will now be held in FC Porto’s Estadio do Dragao.

There had been discussions over moving the final to London’s Wembley Stadium but Uefa said that despite “exhaustive efforts on the part of the (English) Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to achieve the necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.”

“I think we can all agree that we hope never to experience a year like the one we have just endured,” said Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin.

“Fans have had to suffer without the ability to see their teams live and reaching a Champions League final is the pinnacle of football.”