The most prestigious club competition in the world, UEFA Champions League is set to return as the draw for the final stages of the competition has been made and released today, July 10, 2020.
Recall that the league was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic that halted football and other socio-economic activities across the world. Earlier in June, European governing body, UEFA, announced that the format of the yearly competition has been changed to the format of the FIFA World Cup.
This means that the Champions League which used to be a two-leg affair would now be a one-leg knockout competition. Besides that, the competition would no longer be played using the home and away format; tournament format would be used instead.
UEFA agreed to host the 8-team tournament in Lisbon, Portugal at either Sporting’s Estadio Jose Alvalade or Benfica‘s Estadio da Luz between August 12-23. But the European football governing body is yet to confirm whether the tournament will be played behind closed doors or whether a number of fans will be allowed into the stadium when the tournament officially kick-off.
Before the UEFA Champions League was put on hold nearly four months ago, some clubs were yet to play the 2nd-leg of the round of 16 while some other clubs have qualified for the quarter-final stage.
Hence, before the mini-tournament commences, those teams that are yet to play their second leg of the round would have to do so. On Thursday, UEFA agreed that teams that fell in that category are allowed to play the second-leg in the regular format but behind closed doors from August 7-8, 2020.
The remaining four UEFA Champions League round of 16 matches are:
Manchester City vs Real Madrid (2-1) [Etihad Stadium, England]
Bayern Munich vs Chelsea (3-0) [Allianz Arena, Germany]
Barcelona vs Napoli (1-1) [Camp Nou, Spain]
Juventus vs Lyon (0-1) [Allianz Stadium, Italy]
UEFA Champions League Quarter-final draw in full
Real Madrid or Manchester City vs Lyon or Juventus
RB Leipzig vs Atletico Madrid
Napoli or Barcelona vs Chelsea or Bayern
Atalanta vs PSG
Semi-final draw
Real Madrid/Manchester City or Lyon/Juventus vs Napoli/Barcelona or Chelsea/Bayern Munich
RB Leipzig or Atletico Madrid vs Atalanta or Paris Saint-Germain
Champions League quarter-finals dates and venue: August 12-15 (Lisbon)
Semi-finals date and venue: August 18-19 (Lisbon)
Champions League final date and venue: August 23 (Estadio da Luz, Lisbon)
