Chelsea, Man City, Man United & Wolves
Four Premier League sides are still in UEFA’s European competitions this season.
In the Champions League, Chelsea are still in the hat. Just.
Chelsea need to travel to Germany for the second leg of their last-16 tie against Bayern Munich.
Bayern are in total control of the tie after a 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
Man City, meanwhile, are in far better shape in the UCL following a 2-1 away win at Real Madrid.
In the Europa League, both Man United and Wolves are on course to reach the quarter-finals.
Man United are 5-0 up in their tie with LASK Linz, while Wolves drew 1-1 away at Olympiacos in their last-16 tie.
UEFA consider ‘final four’ format wrap up the 2019-20 Champions League & Europa League
According to reports in Italian paper La Stampa, UEFA are considering dramatic format changes to this season’s Champions League and Europa League.
La Stampa report that on Tuesday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin spoke to the members of the ECA, the European Club Association.
While it’s yet to be finalised, the Champions League and Europa League are set to resume in August.
The assumption is that teams like Man City, Man United and Wolves will all stage their last-16 second-legs at their home grounds without any fans.
However, with regards to the quarter-finals, La Stampa believe these matches could be staged at neutral venues.
It’s unclear which stadia are being considered.
Then, UEFA are considering adopting a ‘final four’ format to complete each competition.
In the Champions League, that could mean that the semi-finals and final are all staged in Istanbul, Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Europa League final stages could all be held in Gdansk, Poland.
Una Champions sotto l’ombrellone: partite “secche” e in campo neutro https://t.co/Irau1jw4vw
— La Stampa (@LaStampa) May 27, 2020
Two-legged affairs to become knockout games
The big benefit, if UEFA adopt these format changes, is that the matches from the quarter-finals onwards would be reduced from two-legged affairs to knockout matches.
That would reduce all health risks by half, while also increasing the likelihood that the competitions can actually finish.
However, TV companies could hold up these plans, as they’ve already prepaid to broadcast two-legged matches, as is customary.
La Stampa note that “UEFA is looking for a solution” regarding the TV rights issues.
When will we know if UEFA will make these changes?
UEFA are hoping to reach a decision on these issues at their next Executive Committee meeting, scheduled for June 17.
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