UEFA Champions League Final: UEFA has rebutted claims surrounding the venue of the upcoming Champions League final. Earlier, reports claimed that UEFA has made an “informal approach” to the Portuguese football federation to keep Lisbon as a backup for the UCL Final game, and shifting the game away from Istanbul. In reply, UEFA called it “some inaccurate and unfounded media reports” and denied any speculations. Follow All Football LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
The European football body said, “The 2023 UEFA Champions League final will take place in Istanbul as scheduled, on 10 June 2023. UEFA has no discussions to the contrary with any political institutions, governments or national football associations.”
UEFA statement backing Istanbul for the CL final at the moment:
“The 2023 UEFA Champions League final will take place in Istanbul as scheduled, on 10 June 2023.
UEFA has no discussions to the contrary with any political institutions, governments or national football associations”— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) May 12, 2023
Turkey is preparing for Presidential elections, where the current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in close contention. It was said that the election could lead to a run-off a couple of weeks before the Champions League final. If UEFA shifts the venue away from Turkey, it won’t be the third time in the last 4 years.
Earlier, The Ataturk Olympic Stadium of Istanbul was supposed to host the Champions League finals in both 2020 and 2021. However, due to the outbreak of the pandemic, the remaining games of 2020 including the finals were played in Portugal. Even in 2021, Porto hosted the finals due to the health rules. But, this time, it seems like UEFA has no intention of taking away one of the most important games from Turkey.
UEFA Champions League So Far
The Champions League is in its second last episode, where the remaining teams are playing the semi-finals games. Real Madrid and Manchester City played each other in the first leg at Santiago Bernabeu where the game finished at 1-1. Both teams still have equal chances of qualifying. Real Madrid on the one hand, have the never give up mentality, City on the other have home advantage plus their players are in fine form.
The second semifinal is an all-Italian game, where AC Milan are up against Inter Milan. Inter gained a 2-0 lead over AC Milan and have the upper hand.
Manchester City have the chance to win their first European trophy, whereas Madrid are eyeing to stretch their European win record.
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