Impossible to finish Champions League by July-August, opines Lucas Hernandez

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin addressed the footballing world last week and said that the governing body is planning to continue the closing stages of the European competition by the end of July-August behind closed doors. But, on the flip side, it might be totally scrapped if the situation doesn’t change and it refuses to allow them to stage the matches by September. 

As far as the domestic leagues are concerned, which are also halted by the pandemic situation, the football associations have shown the inclination to see off the closing rounds by the same time (end of July). But Bayern Munich and France defender Lucas Hernandez believes that it is not practical to stage the final stages of the continental tourney at the same time.

"You have to be realistic. I think it will be impossible to finish in the Champions League in these times, especially if we favour ending the domestic leagues. The Champions League concerns all the countries affected by coronavirus. It will be difficult to get everyone out of lockdown, to be in similar condition but also just to meet up, to travel to Italy, Spain, England or France," the Frenchman said as reported by L'Equipe.

As per the latest developments, clubs in the Bundesliga have been allowed to start practice with strict restrictions on the number of players that can assemble at a particular place. While that decision has come under stick from various critics across the world, Hernandez went onto admit that Bayern Munich have instructed the players exactly how to go about things with them not meeting the other groups of four.

"The conditions are very strict. We are in small groups of four. We do not meet the others. We train at different times to avoid contact. The changing rooms are also arranged differently. We don't occupy the same pitches. But as soon as it's over, we'll quickly go and shower and eat at home. This is another way to get the machine up and running again," Hernandez explained.