Atletico Madrid-Chelsea Champions League match to be played in Romania

Another change of venue has been confirmed: The Champions League match between Atletico Madrid and Chelsea will be played in Bucuresti, Romania. Spain has placed restrictions on travelers from the UK, where a new mutation of Covid-19 is present, so Atletico couldn’t host the Blues in the first leg.

The UEFA Champions League round of 16 is scheduled for 23rd of February at 21h CET, with the returning leg to be played in London on March 17th, UEFA confirmed.

„UEFA is able to officially confirm that the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg match between Club Atlético de Madrid and Chelsea FC will now be played at the Arena Naţională in Bucharest. The date of the match and the kick-off time will remain the same. UEFA would like to express its gratitude to Club Atlético de Madrid and Chelsea FC for their support and close cooperation, as well as the Romanian Football Federation for their assistance and agreeing to stage the match“ said UEFA in the statement.

Venue changes are happening mainly because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the mutation of the virus, which happened in the UK first, prompting a large number of travel bans to and from this country by other EU member states. So far, Manchester City and Liverpool in the Champions League and Manchester United and Arsenal in the Europa League have already experienced venue changes. So far, only Tottenham is scheduled to visit Austria and play their first Europa League tie with Wolfsberger AC.

The National Arena in Budapest has been selected to host this game. The stadium is already included in the UEFA EURO 2020 circuit which will start in 4 months. Four EURO matches will be played in this stadium, three in Group C and one round of 16. The Arena will also host games at the 2023 European U21 Championship. The Europa League final in 2014 (won by Atletico Madrid against Athletic Bilbao) was held at the same stadium.