Reports | UEFA to allow Champions League round of 16 second legs to be played at home
While the Champions League quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will all be held in Portugal, reports have indicated that the round of 16 second-legs will be played at the home grounds of teams involved. The Champions League and Europa League are set to be held between August 5 and August 23.
After both the Champions League and the Europa League were postponed indefinitely, many feared that Europe’s top two club competitions would not return this season. However, with the Bundesliga, Premier League, Serie A, and La Liga all returning to action under various safety precautions, UEFA have created their own plan to continue both the Europa and the Champions League. That has seen the month of August set aside for both tournaments with the Europa League being held in Germany and the Champions League held in Portugal.
Furthermore, the Europe League will kick things off from the 5th and 6th of August before the Champions League ends things on the 23rd with the draws to take place on 10th July. Between that period the remaining round of 16 games for both competitions will be played although reports have revealed that the second legs of the Champions League could potentially be home games. Spanish news outlet AS has further reported that when the draw for the next rounds takes place, on 10th July, UEFA will announce the same.
That would see Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus host their return legs although nothing has been confirmed as of yet. UEFA did release a statement on their website confirming a few new rules as they revealed that the “quarter-finals and semi-finals will now take place as single-leg ties”, and that five substitutes will be allowed. However, in the same statement, UFEA also revealed that “unplayed round of 16 second legs will be held either at the club's home ground or at a venue assigned by UEFA”.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admitted that while he would love the second-leg game against Real Madrid to be held in Manchester, both he and his side would accept if UEFA decided that the games had to be played in neutral venues instead. The City boss also revealed that he hasn't made any phone calls to either UEFA or FIFA as he doesn't have the power to do so despite rumours of the Spaniard doing the same over the last few weeks.
"We want to play in Manchester, but we will accept where Uefa decide to play. I want to play against Madrid, but I didn’t make a phone call. I don’t have this power to call Uefa or Fifa," said Guardiola in his pre-match press conference.
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