The Champions League round of 16 first leg between Mönchengladbach and Manchester City will be played in Budapest, at the Puskas stadium, on the unchanged date of February 24 (9 p.m.), UEFA announced on Monday.

On Sunday, the European football body announced the trip to the Hungarian capital of another round of 16 of C1, between Leipzig and Liverpool, Germany having banned travelers coming from an area where the Covid pandemic is particularly active to return to its territory.

These decisions arouse fears of new disruptions in European football competitions due to Covid-19, four months from a Euro which must be disputed in twelve countries.

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Although German regulations are currently only in effect until February 17, a decision has been taken to postpone the “Gladbach” -City match scheduled for the 24th.

Borussia director Max Eberl explained on Friday that he was looking for a place to host the meeting.

UEFA regulations state that the host club must ensure the smooth running of the game and, if necessary, find a replacement pitch, otherwise the match will be lost 3-0 on the green carpet.

Moreover, in the Europa League, the round of 16 first leg between the Norwegian clubs of Molde and German of Hoffenheim, on February 18, was moved to Villarreal (Spain), the government of Oslo having purely and simply closed the borders to non -residents.

This situation is not, for the moment, such as to prevent the two European competitions from going to an end according to the usual formula of round-trip matches, while the Champions League had to inaugurate in 2020 a new formula with a final tournament bringing together the last eight teams in Portugal.

The evolution of the epidemic in Europe can raise fears that measures like those of Germany or Norway will multiply on the continent, isolating again the countries from each other.

Such a scenario would obviously endanger the Euro, postponed for a year (11 June-11 July), which UEFA still wants to organize in twelve countries in accordance with the project imagined by Michel Platini.