UEFA Champions League

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Champions League, Europa League draw: Schedule, how to watch

By Joe Prince-WrightJul 10, 2020, 9:38 AM EDT

The Champions League schedule is set as the draw for the UCL and Europa League has been made and below you will find all the details you need and how to watch in the USA.

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Draws for the quarterfinals and semifinals of both competitions were made in Switzerland by UEFA on Friday, as the 2019-20 season competitions will conclude with special mini-tournaments with one-legged games from this point.

Big boys are about to collide as the Champions League schedule is set.

Man City will face either Lyon or Juventus if they can maintain their first leg lead over Real Madrid, while Chelsea will face either Napoli or Barcelona if they overturn a 3-0 deficit against Bayern Munich.

Man United and Wolves will collide in the semifinals of the Europa League if they make it that far.

The Champions League quarterfinals, semifinals and final will all be played in Lisbon, Portugal. While the Europa League will be played in four venues across Germany.

Champions League draw

Dates: August 7-23
Location: Round of 16 at home venues; Quarterfinals onwards in Lisbon
How to watch: CBS Sports
Live updates: Here at NBCSports.com

Round of 16
Friday, August 7: Manchester City v. Real Madrid (2-1)
Friday, August 7: Juventus v. Lyon (0-1)
Saturday, August 8: Barcelona v. Napoli (1-1)
Saturday, August 8: Bayern Munich v. Chelsea (3-0)

Quarterfinals (August 12-15)
1. Manchester City/Real Madrid v. Lyon/Juventus
2. RB Leipzig v. Atletico Madrid
3. Napoli/Barcelona v. Chelsea/Bayern Munich
4. Atalanta v. Paris Saint-Germain

Semifinals (August 18/19)
1. Winner quarterfinal 1 v. Winner quarterfinal 3
2. Winner quarterfinal 2 v. Winner quarterfinal 4

Final
Sunday, August 23: Winner semifinal 1 v. Winner semifinal 2

Europa League draw

Dates: August 5-21
Location: Round of 16 at home venues; Quarterfinals onwards in Duisburg, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Schalke and Cologne in Germany.
How to watch: CBS Sports
Live updates: Here at NBCSports.com

Round of 16 (August 5-6)
Copenhagen v. Istanbul Basaksehir (0-1)
Wolves v. Olympiakos (1-1)
Bayer Leverkusen v. Rangers (3-1)
Shakhtar Donetsk v. Wolfsburg (2-1)
Basel v. Eintracht Frankfurt (0-3)
Manchester United v. LASK (5-0)
Inter Milan v. Getafe (first leg abandoned)
Sevilla v. Roma (first leg abandoned)

Quarterfinals (August 10-11)
1. Wolfsburg/Shakhtar Donetsk v. Eintracht Frankfurt/Basel
2. LASK/Manchester United v. Istanbul Basaksehir/Copenhagen
3. Inter Milan/Getafe v. Rangers/Bayer Leverkusen
4. Olympiakos/Wolves v. Sevilla/Roma

Semifinals (August 16-17)
1. Winner of quarterfinal 4 v. Winner of quarterfinal 2
2. Winner of quarterfinal 3 v. Winner of quarterfinal 1

Final
Friday, August 21: Winner semifinal 1 v. Winner semifinal 2

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Last-16 games to be hosted by home teams in Champions League

UEFA Champions League

By Nicholas MendolaJul 9, 2020, 2:15 PM EDT

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GENEVA (AP) The remaining four games of the Champions League’s round of 16 can be hosted by the home team, UEFA announced Thursday, instead of playing them in neutral Portugal.

The competition was halted in March because of the coronavirus and is set to conclude with a mini-tournament at an empty stadium in Lisbon next month, starting with the quarterfinals.

However, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Manchester City will be allowed to host the second leg of their last-16 matches at home.

[ MORE: New Premier League TV schedule ]

UEFA confirmed Thursday it had clearance from public authorities in Spain, Germany, Italy and England to let the teams play at home on Aug. 7 and 8. Few or no fans will be allowed in the stadiums.

UEFA also said no tickets will be sold to fans for mini-tournament in Lisbon.

“In light of the current situation, the UEFA executive committee felt it prudent to conclude that UEFA matches should take place behind closed doors until further notice,” the governing body said.

In the Europa League, six clubs including Manchester United can also host their outstanding second-leg games in the round of 16 ahead of a mini-tournament in Germany.

Starting on Aug. 12, the Champions League quarterfinals will be played on four straight nights in single-leg knockout games at the home stadiums of Benfica and Sporting Lisbon.

The semifinals are on Aug. 18 and 19, and Benfica’s Stadium of Light hosts the final on Aug. 23.

In the remaining round-of-16 games, Bayern is the clearest favorite to advance having won 3-0 at Chelsea in the first leg in February.

Man City leads 2-1 over Real Madrid, Juventus trails 1-0 against Lyon, and Barcelona resumes at 1-1 against Napoli.

Atalanta, Atlético Madrid, Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain already advanced to the quarterfinals in March.

[ MORE: Solskjaer hopeful of new long-term Pogba deal ]

The quarterfinals and semifinals pairings will be drawn Friday at UEFA headquarters.

The final was postponed from May 30 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. It will host the 2021 final.

In the Europa League, six second-leg games will now be hosted on Aug. 5 and 6 by Man United, Bayer Leverkusen, Shakhtar Donetsk, Wolverhampton, Basel and Copenhagen.

The first-leg games were played in March with four in empty stadiums. Only İstanbul Başakşehir and Rangers had fans in the stands for games against Copenhagen and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively.

The two remaining pairings – Inter Milan-Getafe and Sevilla-Roma – could not be played in Italy or Spain in March as those countries were hit hard by the spreading coronavirus. Those pairings will be settled in single knockout games in neutral Germany, also on Aug. 5 and 6.

The quarterfinals are scheduled for Aug. 10-11 in Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen. The semifinals are Aug. 16-17.

The final is Friday, Aug. 21 in Cologne, replacing the postponed May 27 final in Gdansk, Poland.

By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer

Champions League, Relegation picture: What’s going on?

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By Joe Prince-WrightJul 2, 2020, 11:09 AM EDT

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The Champions League and relegation picture is pretty wild right now in the Premier League.

[ MORE: New PL TV schedule ]

With six matchweeks remaining, there is so much to play for across the entire league. From Champions League to Europa League and a crowded and tight relegation battle, there are so many permutations.

Given the tough remaining schedules for some teams and easier slate of games for others, surely that will come into things. Pressure does strange things to teams at this point of a season though.

[ MORE: Remaining Premier League fixtures ]

Let’s take a look at the Champions League and relegation picture a little closer.

Champions League race

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Home	Away	PTS
Liverpool	31	28	2	1	70	21	49	16-0-0	12-2-1	86
Manchester City	31	20	3	8	77	33	44	11-2-2	9-1-6	63
Leicester City	32	16	7	9	60	31	29	9-4-3	7-3-6	55
Chelsea	32	16	6	10	57	44	13	8-3-5	8-3-5	54
Manchester United	32	14	10	8	51	31	20	9-5-2	5-5-6	52
Wolves	32	13	13	6	45	34	11	6-7-3	7-6-3	52
Arsenal	32	11	13	8	47	41	6	8-5-3	3-8-5	46
Tottenham Hotspur	31	12	9	10	50	41	9	9-3-4	3-6-6	45
Burnley	32	13	6	13	36	45	-9	8-2-6	5-4-7	45
Sheffield United	31	11	11	9	30	31	-1	7-3-5	4-8-4	44
Everton	32	12	8	12	40	47	-7	8-5-3	4-3-9	44
Crystal Palace	32	11	9	12	28	37	-9	6-4-6	5-5-6	42
Newcastle United	32	11	9	12	33	43	-10	6-7-3	5-2-9	42
Southampton	32	12	4	16	41	55	-14	4-2-10	8-2-6	40

So, yeah, this is getting bonkers. With Leicester City and Chelsea both losing this week, Wolves and Man United are just three points off third place and this is going to be extremely interesting. Man United have a very easy remaining schedule and they have momentum, while Sheffield United have some tough games remaining. With fifth-place potentially a Champions League spot due to Man City’s European ban (which they have appealed) that means Arsenal, Tottenham, Sheffield United and even Burnley are in the hunt too. When it comes to Europa League, Everton, Palace, Newcastle and Southampton still have a chance as eighth place could be a qualifying berth due to the FA Cup winners likely to finish in the top six. Simply put, the entire league aside from the bottom six are in the hunt for European action. Lots to play for.

Relegation battle

Brighton & Hove Albion	32	7	12	13	34	44	-10	5-6-5	2-6-8	33
West Ham United	32	8	6	18	38	56	-18	5-3-8	3-3-10	30
Watford	32	6	10	16	29	49	-20	4-6-6	2-4-10	28

Aston Villa	32	7	6	19	36	60	-24	5-3-8	2-3-11	27
Bournemouth	32	7	6	19	30	54	-24	4-5-7	3-1-12	27
Norwich City	32	5	6	21	25	60	-35	4-3-9	1-3-12	21

Things are just as interesting at the bottom of the table. Somehow Norwich are still in with a chance of survival despite losing all three of their games since the restart. They have to start winning soon though. Bournemouth and Aston Villa have some ridiculously tough games to finish with and look like they will go down but West Ham and Brighton have tough schedules too, with the latter playing Liverpool and Man City back-to-back next week so they could get sucked back into things. It looks like being three from the bottom five to go down and both West Ham and Watford have showed they have enough grit to grind out points. Can Villa and Bournemouth do the same? Will Norwich win four or five of their last six to save themselves? Things get crazy in the final weeks at the bottom and this is shaping up to be one of the best relegation battles in Premier League history as goal difference is so tight between all of the teams.

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Atalanta brings soccer back to one-time coronavirus epicenter Bergamo

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Associated PressJun 20, 2020, 6:16 PM EDT

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MILAN (AP) __ When Atalanta takes to the field on Sunday, the match will hold an extra element of poignancy.

Not only will it be the team’s first game in more than three months as Serie A resumes this weekend but, more than that, Atalanta plays its soccer in Bergamo, which was one of the Italian cities hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 16,000 people have died from the virus in the Lombardy region containing Bergamo, and the small city was one of the epicenters of the outbreak.

[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]

“The extent of what happened in Bergamo is difficult to remedy with whatever type of endeavor,” Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said on Saturday. “It’s clear that it will never be forgotten, it completely turned our lives upside down. Maybe it will only be in time that we will understand why it was so aggressive here.”

Many experts have pointed to the Champions League match between Atalanta and Valencia on Feb. 19 in Milan as one of the biggest reasons why the virus was so deadly in Bergamo. The match has been dubbed “Game Zero” by the local media.

Less than a week after the game, the first cases were reported in the province of Bergamo and the greatest achievement in Atalanta’s history was swiftly marred. Atalanta won that first-leg match 4-1, and won the return leg 4-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League in its first ever season in the competition.

The Champions League will now finish with a mini-tournament in Lisbon in August.

“Bergamo paid a heavy price, we will try to start again through football and bring smiles back to a city which was turned upside down,” Gasperini said.

Gasperini revealed last month that he acquired COVID-19 and was concerned for his life in mid-March. The 62-year-old Italian started feeling sick on March 9, a day before Atalanta played at Valencia in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16.

Fourth-place Atalanta hosts Sassuolo on Sunday. Sassuolo was the last team to play, alongside Brescia, before Serie A was halted on March 9. Striker Francesco Caputo celebrated the first of his two goals that day with a sign in Italian that read “It will all be OK. (hash)Stayathome.”

Champions League knockout tournament in Lisbon confirmed

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By Joe Prince-WrightJun 17, 2020, 10:19 AM EDT

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The dates and details have been confirmed for a UEFA Champions League straight-knockout tournament held in Lisbon, Portugal in August to conclude the 2019-20 competition.

[ MORE: Champions League schedule ]

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin announced the news Wednesday, as the tournament will take place from August 12-23. The Champions League was halted on March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be one-off games instead of the usual two-legged format, while the remaining last 16 games will be played on August 7-8 either at home stadiums or either Porto or Guimares in Portugal if that is not possible.

Below are the Champions League dates, schedule and venue details for how the tournament will work, as UEFA also said they will make a decision in early July about whether or not fans will be allowed to attend. Ceferin said the coronavirus pandemic in Europe is ‘changing rapidly’ and UEFA will adjust accordingly in the coming weeks.

The UEFA Champions League 2020-21 tournament will continue as planned, with the 2021 final now in Istanbul (the original 2020 final host), with Saint Petersburg the hosts for the 2022 final, Munich 2023 and Wembley 2024.

All games will kick off at 3 p.m. ET for the remainder of the Champions League this season.

UEFA Champions League tournament schedule

August 7-8: Round of 16 second legs

Bayern Munich v. Chelsea (3-0)
Juventus v. Lyon (0-1)
Man City v. Real Madrid (2-1)
Napoli v. Barcelona (1-1)

August 12-15: Quarterfinals

Teams already qualified: Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig

August 18-19: Semifinals

August 23: Final

Venues to be used

Estadio da Luz, Benfica
Estadio Jose Alvade, Sporting Lisbon
Estadio do Dragao, Porto
Estadio D. Afonso Henriques, Guimares

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