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Four months not on time due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Champions League has reached the quarter-final stage with Paris Saint-Germain taking up outsiders Atalanta in Lisbon on Wednesday within the first recreation of the ‘Final Eight’. A straight knockout ultimate match held in a single place, akin to a World Cup or European Championship, was the one resolution obtainable to UEFA with a view to full its most profitable membership competitors, suspended for 5 months from March till final weekend.
Two-legged quarter-finals and semi-finals have been accomplished away with, and all eight groups have come to Lisbon, the place they’re following strict well being pointers together with common testing. No spectators are allowed inside stadiums.
PSG will due to this fact meet Atalanta at an empty Estadio da Luz on Wednesday at 1900 GMT, with the winners advancing to a semi-final in opposition to both Atletico Madrid or RB Leipzig, who play on Thursday.
The different quarter-finals are Barcelona in opposition to Bayern Munich — the one golf equipment nonetheless within the competitors to have received it earlier than — and Manchester City in opposition to Lyon.
The ultimate can be on August 23, and UEFA can solely hope there is no such thing as a widespread outbreak of COVID-19 amongst any of the groups which might threaten the match.
European soccer’s governing physique has stated that so long as a crew has 13 wholesome gamers together with a goalkeeper, matches should go forward, in any other case groups threat forfeiting matches.
There was a scare on the weekend when it was revealed two Atletico gamers had examined optimistic, however their squad has travelled to Portugal and their recreation is ready to go forward.
Before that match, PSG will look to achieve the semi-finals for the primary time for the reason that Qatari takeover virtually a decade in the past and so they got a lift on the eve of their match in opposition to Atalanta as Kylian Mbappe was declared match sufficient to play a component by coach Thomas Tuchel.
“If he trains well on Tuesday evening and nothing extraordinary happens, he will be in the team on Wednesday,” Tuchel stated.
Mbappe was left in a race in opposition to time to be match for the beginning of the ‘Final Eight’ after struggling a sprained ankle in PSG’s French Cup ultimate win over Saint-Etienne on July 24.
– ‘Extra motivation’ –
Opponents Atalanta — with an annual wage invoice for his or her complete squad believed to be equal to Neymar’s wage for the 12 months at PSG — are within the Champions League for the primary time.
The Italians are recent from ending third in Serie A and are spurred on by the horrible struggling of their dwelling metropolis of Bergamo on the peak of the pandemic earlier this 12 months.
“There is extra motivation for us after what has happened. We have to represent our city in the best possible way and give the people something to smile about,” stated the Atalanta coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, on Tuesday.
The ultimate of this season’s Champions League was initially on account of be performed in Istanbul in late May earlier than it was postponed and this new format launched.
Usually such an occasion would see an enormous inflow of international followers however the environment in Lisbon this time is somewhat completely different, even when some supporters have travelled and one research has estimated 16,000 will are available in complete over the following 10 days.
“The atmosphere is bizarre. The city seems empty and the bars close early,” one Atalanta fan, who plans to look at the match in a bar, instructed AFP.
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Restrictions stay in place in and round Lisbon in an try and cease a resurgence of the virus.
Those embrace limiting gatherings to not more than 10 folks and banning alcohol consumption in public, whereas retailers and cafes should shut at 8:00pm, the time matches will kick off.
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