The Atltico de Madrid confirmed this Tuesday that the English Chelsea will not be able to fly to Spain due to the restrictions of the Spanish Government due to the new strains of coronavirus and announced that tomorrow, Wednesday, he will have a meeting with UEFA to decide where the first leg of the last 16 of the Champions League on February 23 will be played, which It cannot be in Spain, Portugal, France or Germany.
In an informative note sent to the media, the rojiblanco club confirmed that the Government of Spain has confirmed that Chelsea “will not receive authorization to fly from London to Madrid” due to the extension to March 2 of the restrictions on Entry of flights from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil due to the coronavirus strains detected in those countries, except for nationals and residents of Spain and Andorra.
“Tomorrow morning a meeting is scheduled between those in charge of UEFA and the club to make the final decision, which we will make public immediately,” said sources from the rojiblanco team.
According to the Atltico, the club has been “looking for different alternatives for days” that meet various requirements.
The first is that the stadium where it is played is in a country that does not have entry restrictions on flights from Spain and the United Kingdom. This rules out “any stadium in Spain, Portugal, France and Germany,” explains Atltico. “The Italian stadiums prepared are not free on the dates of the match,” added the club.
On the other hand, another condition is that the chosen stadium must comply with the UEFA requirements for a Champions League match, such as the existence of VAR video refereeing technology, goal line technology and adequate television production conditions.
In addition to these two conditioning factors, the Atltico has taken into account “other factors” such as the situation of COVID-19 in each region, winter temperatures, distance, or the state of the lawn.
UEFA has already had to modify the venue for several Champions League and Europa League matches for similar reasons.
In the Champions League, the round of 16 duels Leipzig-Liverpool, scheduled for February 16, and Borussia Mnchengladbach-Manchester City, for February 24, will be played in Budapest (Hungary).
Regarding the Europa League, there are three round-of-16 games changed venues, all of them scheduled for February 18: Molde-Hoffenheim will be played at the Estadio de la Cermica in Villarreal, Real Sociedad-Manchester United will take place at the Juventus stadium in Turn (Italy), and Benfica-Arsenal will be played at the Olmpico Stadium in Rome (Hungary). .