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Chelsea’s last Champions League match was on February 25, when a gulf in class to German giants Bayern Munich was rudely exposed to the tune of a 3-0 humbling at the Bridge by the visitors in the first leg of the Round of 16.
The return leg was set for mid-March originally, but if the coronavirus took it instead, few would complain.
Alas, it looks like UEFA remain intent on finishing out this season’s European competitions, reportedly penciling in August 8 as the restart date. There are a total of 12 teams left in the hunt for Big Ears, and the Mirror claims that UEFA informed all of them to keep those August dates in mind as (most of) the rest of the European football slowly inches towards resuming their domestic league competitions.
Thanks to the schedule crunch, UEFA might hold subsequent rounds as single-elimination games at neutral venues.
This plan obviously remains tentative, with plenty of developments, good or bad, expected in the three months between now and the proposed restart date. It will also be dependent specifically on healthcare authorities’ recommendations as well as the aforementioned domestic leagues finishing by the end of July (a deadline that those who are taking steps towards reopening look likely to hit).
European football’s summer break is expected to be much shorter than usual after losing 3 months to COVID-19, and for some, that could mean heading into the next season (assuming no secondary outbreaks) without much, if any offseason.