UEFA has assured that it is prepared to tackle the worst situations if Covid hits any team. As per the UEFA guidelines, a neutral venue will be chosen if there are travel restrictions in place for a host city.
The UEFA Champions League has returned. While the glory associated with the world football’s most prestigious tournament is intact and UEFA promises a complete unhindered football season with its end at Istanbul on May 29, the road to glory is not going to be easy.
The UEFA Champions League will witness 6 rounds being completed in a window of 8 weeks. A team will be required to travel to at least 3 countries in the group stages in the next two months, something which is not easy in the current pandemic times. For example, Sevilla traveled to Chelsea this week, after which they will return to Spain, then travel to Russia and France within 8 weeks.
Although all football leagues including the Champions League have worked hard to ensure that Covid is kept in check by allowing only 30% spectators, lowering player requirement per game to 13, and also allowing more substitutes, World Football has not been free from the virus.
The latest notable case has been that of Cristiano Ronaldo who has now tested positive and had to quarantine. Let’s not forget that as the Champions League has kicked off several European nations such as France, Ireland, UK and Wales have already started witnessing the second wave of infections.
But UEFA has assured that they are prepared to tackle the worst situations if Covid hits any team. As per the UEFA guidelines, a neutral venue will be chosen if there are travel restrictions in place for a host city. But the biggest flaw is that if a team faces too many infections and is unable to play before the match deadline, they will be deemed to have forfeited the game.
The restart will be a bigger challenge than when the Champions league resumed last season since the home-away game format was taken away and a neutral venue was chosen for all the remaining games.
But we can only hope and wish that the new and complete avatar of the UEFA Champions League is unhindered by the Virus and we get to witness a fair and complete tournament till May 29th next year, as the championship has delivered through decades now.