Atletico Madrid claim they should be 2019-20 Champions League champs if the competition ends early because they beat Liverpool

Atletico Madrid claim they should be 2019-20 Champions League champs if the competition ends early because they beat Liverpool

Spanish radio station Onda Cero spoke to Atletico Madrid president, Enrique Cerezo, on Wednesday on a range of topics as the Spanish La Liga season gears up to restart.

Aside from their league obligations, Atletico Madrid also remain in the Champions League.

In the last-16, Atletico beat Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield to knock the Reds out of the 2019-20 competition.

It’s unclear who Atletico will face in the quarterfinals as the last-16 is yet to be completed.

What will happen if the Champions League cannot be completed due to the coronavirus pandemic?

Enrique Cerezo made the case that in that hypothetical situation, Atletico should be crowned champions as they knocked out last season’s champs, Liverpool. He said:

There are still a few knockout games left, the quarterfinals, the semis and the final. We understand that UEFA is trying to centralise all these matches in one city. There’s been talk of Spain, Portugal.

Nothing is known yet… However, what we have to pay attention to is that in the hypothetical case that the Champions League cannot be played because of the coronavirus.

In that case, the champion should be the ones who beat the champion!

The comments can be heard (in Spanish) 9 minutes into the audio unit below.

 

2019-20 Champions League: What we still don’t know

UEFA’s executive committee are next scheduled meet on June 17.

During that meeting UEFA have some major decisions to finalise regarding this season’s European competitions.

While it’s been widely reported that UEFA hope to wrap up the Champions League and Europa League in August, that’s yet to be finalised.

Also, UEFA still need to confirm that they are reducing the number of remaining matches in the tournaments to do away with two-legged affairs.

Another key issue yet to be determined is where the Champions League final will be staged. Reports are that Istanbul can no longer host the showpiece due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, while Atletico have argued that they should win the Champions League if the competition can’t finish, ultimately a decision on that possibility needs to come from UEFA.

 

Also see: UK government claim that Liverpool vs Atletico was ‘low risk’ was an assumption made without any scientific basis.

At least 41 Covid-19 deaths linked to Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid.

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