News: Change in venue for Chelsea vs Porto in Champions League
According to news from Daily Mail, Chelsea and Porto will be playing both legs of their Champions League at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium. UEFA have confirmed the same after the ties were earlier scheduled on a home-away basis.
The first leg was supposed to be played in Portugal while Stamford Bridge would have hosted the return leg a week later. Nonetheless, now both sides will have to play in the neutral venue in Spain i.e. Sevilla’s home ground.
‘UEFA is able to officially confirm that the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first and second leg matches involving FC Porto and Chelsea FC, will now both be played at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in Seville. The dates of the matches (7 April and 13 April 2021) and the kick-off times (21:00CET) will remain the same.
‘UEFA would like to thank FC Porto and Chelsea FC for their support and close cooperation, as well as the Portuguese Football Federation, The Football Association, the Royal Spanish Football Federation and Sevilla FC for their assistance and agreeing to stage the matches.’
There is a ban on flights to and from the UK due to the new strains of Coronavirus and the government wants to curb the spread. While Portugal was recently lifted from the red list of countries, the flight ban means that no side will have a home advantage.
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In the last round, Chelsea dealt with Atletico Madrid in a professional way while Porto managed to shock Juventus, winning on away goals. Despite Chelsea’s good form, they cannot afford to take Porto lightly.