According to UEFA regulations, teams that come from the play-offs, such as Benfica and Sporting, must play the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League at home. Therefore, the two rivals will not be able to play both on March 7th, a Thursday, as regulations prevent the same city from hosting two games on the same day in European competitions.
According to a note published on the official UEFA website, Benfica has priority over Sporting “having won the national championship”, which means that the Lions will have to play earlier. Also according to UEFA, Sporting will play the first leg of the round of 16 at home, “on Tuesday March 5th, at 5.45 pm”, which could raise a calendar problem, because on the weekend of March 9th and On the 10th of that month, the Leonine team will face Arouca, away, in the 25th round of the League. Furthermore, Ruben Amorim’s team still has a game to play against Famalicão, also counting for the championship.
However, as JN knows, there is still the chance of Sporting playing the first leg of the round of 16 on Wednesday, March 6th, if the Police guarantee that the conditions exist and form a strong security system in the city of Lisbon. to prevent fans from two foreign teams from mixing in the same space. This is because Benfica will also play at home the following day and in the same phase of the competition. Of course, the opponents of the two Portuguese teams will also have a bearing on this decision, if they are clubs with less problematic fans.
This Friday, at 11 am, the opponents of the two Portuguese teams in the competition will be known, which could be Atalanta, Brighton, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Rangers, Slávia Praga, Villarreal or West Ham.
2024-02-23 09:10:00
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