The increase in cases of covid-19 has alerted professional football when sports authorities already took it for granted that their plan to end the season would be a success. Some leagues, such as the Spanish, German or English, have already been able to play all their matches. Italy will do so this weekend, just before the return of the continental competitions, the Champions, both men’s and women’s, and the Europa League.
Alarmed by the positives of players from teams such as Madrid or Sevilla, UEFA has called on clubs to exercise extreme caution to avoid an outbreak that would jeopardize the end of continental tournaments. The two clubs, however, have the positive of a single player, the Madrid player Mariano and the Sevilla player Gudelj, which is why their teammates are already preparing for next week’s matches after passing the corresponding tests. But Napoli, Barça’s rivals in the return leg of the Champions League round of 16 on August 8, have asked UEFA to allow them to play in a neutral stadium in Portugal, instead of the Camp Nou. “Barcelona is a territory where cases are growing, it is not certain. It would be normal to go to Portugal already “, said the president of the Neapolitans, Aurelio Di Laurentiis, referring to the final phase of the tournament, where all the matches of the quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be played in Lisbon.
The Champions League stopped just after Barça’s first leg at the San Paolo stadium (1-1), although the return leg could be played in some qualifiers. Thus, teams such as PSG, Atalanta, RB Leipzig and Atletico Madrid have already qualified for the quarterfinals. On the other hand, the return matches between Barça and Napoli, Bayern and Chelsea, Juve and Olympique de Lyon and Manchester City and Real Madrid have yet to be played. UEFA had planned to play the return of these matches to the stadiums of local clubs on the weekend of 8 and 9 August, as long as the pandemic allowed. Then Lisbon will live a final phase with all the matches of quarterfinals, semifinals and final, in a single match. And yesterday UEFA, worried about the increase in positive cases, asked Barça and the Generalitat’s Health Department about the situation of the pandemic in Catalonia. UEFA is in contact with governments in the regions where Champions League and Europa League final matches are set to begin next week. After receiving the club’s response, with a positive report from the Generalitat, he admitted that the return will be to the Camp Nou.
At Barça, however, they admit that a resurgence in Barcelona in the next few hours could change everything, despite the fact that right now it is assumed that the match will be at the Camp Nou. All the Barça and Napoli players have passed the tests that have been done in recent days without any positives. In the Europa League, on the other hand, the entire final phase, including the pending matches of the round of 16, is played in different German cities, in a single match. Sevilla has announced a positive, but the other players have passed their tests without problems, which is why the competition is going well.
A single-match play-off
While waiting to see how the Champions League ends, the Spanish League is still working on the idea that next season will start on September 12, although there is still a final promotion to be decided. He play-off where it will be decided the third team that goes up is still stopped, as Deportivo-Fuenlabrada is missing to play, suspended by the outbreak of coronavirus at the Madrid club, which wants to play the match on August 2.
Girona, who will play one of the semifinals of the play-off against Almeria, he learned yesterday that the entire staff of the Andalusian club, where a positive had been detected, has given a negative. The League wants to play the play-off before August 16 and does not rule out that the semifinals and the final will be a single match, with concentration at the same venue, to avoid further complicating the schedule. Today, the instructor of the Fuenlabrada case has proposed in his report to the Competition Committee of the Federation that the match against Deportivo de La Coruña be considered lost by the Madrid team. This measure, which is proposed as a precaution, would allow Elche to play in the promotion play-off Primera against Zaragoza. The decision will have to be taken shortly by the Competition Committee.
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