Champions League Proposal: Two sides of the coin

UEFA has planned for a Champions League proposal that would be played in August. The tournament would commence on August 7th and end on August 29th. It seems reasonable to play out the tournament so it doesn’t impact the domestic leagues greatly. But is there more to consider?

Schedule

The second leg of the round of 16 is scheduled to be played on August 7th and 8th. On the first day, it will be Juventus vs Lyon and Manchester City vs Real Madrid.  On the second day, it will be Bayern Munich vs Chelsea and Barcelona vs Napoli. Juventus, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona are the favorites to advance. The quarterfinal first legs would be played on August 11th and 12th. Then the second legs of the quarterfinals would be played on August 14th and 15th.

The first legs on the semifinals would be on August 18th and 19th. Then the second legs would be played on August 21st and 22nd. Finally, the Champions League final would be played on August 29th in Istanbul. A month ago UEFA had no proposed date for the final. This is progress after all the uncertainty.

Advantages and disadvantages

La Liga plans to resume training and the Bundesliga could start back up in May. Could that be an advantage to Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and Bayern Munich because their season starts earlier? After all, the Premier League hopes to start by June and other leagues even later than that. How much would that affect Manchester City with a quick turnaround to the Champions League in August? Serie A seems to be in the toughest situation as the virus hit Italy hardest and it’s likely to be some time before they’ve turned things around.

With the tournament being condensed into a month that would seem to give the advantage to the deeper teams. Manchester City would be a good example: players who are substitutions could be game-changers like Gabriel Jesus , Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. The postponement could be a disadvantage to players like Marcos Llorente who came off a heroic performance against Liverpool. All that momentum Llorente and Atletico Madrid could be halted. It will be interesting to who wins if the Champions League will be completed within a month. 
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