Liverpool may have to play fixtures behind closed doors if they draw a French club during their champion’s league campaign this season.
French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu has announced that games in the nation’s top league will now take place in empty stadiums or to a cap of 1000 spectators. The government for sporting events who have banned all gatherings of over 1000 people has set the limit. The ban will spread to cup games and the champion’s league too.
These restrictions mean that if Liverpool progress on Wednesday against Atletico Madrid and are drawn either PSG or Lyon in the Champions League this season fans will not be able to spectate the fixture. PSG play against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in their Champions League last-16 match, which will be played behind closed doors.
The country reported 1,126 cases of the virus as of Sunday, up 19 per cent from the day before and the second largest number of cases in Europe after Italy. So far, 19 people in France have died.
A meeting is taking place in the UK today to decide what will happen in the virus spreads further in the UK with talks of also implementing the stadium ban.
UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has said, “I was at Twickenham with the Prime Minister on Saturday. There was a huge crowd of people there. There is no reason why people should not be going to those events. It is very premature to be talking about things like that.”
(Picture by Antoine Dellenbach, Under creative commons)
