European football back on cards!

Back after a long hiatus!

Five months after the Champions League and Europa League were halted, European football's premiere club competition are back. Atletico Madrid's dramatic extra-time win at Anfield seems ages ago, as does Manchester United's 5-0 thrashing of LASK, with those results two of the final matches to occur before the coronavirus pandemic suspended the season.Now, with those domestic leagues and cup competitions that did return having finished, the focus is solely on Europe's elite.

PREVIOUSLY ON... THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AND EUROPA LEAGUE

Both the Europa League and the Champions League are at the last-16 stage, but while all 16 teams remain in the Europa League, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Valencia and Tottenham are all out of Europe's premier club competition.Their conquerors - Atletico, Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta and RB Leipzig - all won across two legs prior to pause being pressed on the campaign.Only six of the eight first legs in the Europa League happened, with four away teams - United, Bayer Leverkusen, Shakhtar Donetsk and Basel claiming advantages, while Istanbul Basaksehir beat Copenhagen 1-0 in Turkey and Wolves drew 1-1 at Olympiacos.

Let's deal with the Champions League first.

PSG and Atalanta can put their feet up knowing their quarter-final begins on August 12, the day before Leipzig face Atletico Madrid.Four last-16 ties remain and the quartet of home teams in the second leg - Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona and Bayern Munich - will respectively host Real Madrid, Lyon, Napoli and Chelsea in their own stadiums without fans present.

That is also the case in the Europa League, though Sevilla's clash with Roma, and Inter's encounter with Getafe will now be one-off fixtures at neutral venues in Germany. Those second legs will still be played at clubs’ home stadiums before the winners head to Germany for a new knockout tournament format. All games will be played without spectators.

2019/20 UEFA Europa League schedule

5–6 August: Round of 16 (second legs at home teams’ stadiums; single-leg ties in Germany)
10–11 August: Quarter-finals (Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen)
16–17 August: Semi-finals (German venues to be confirmed)
21 August: Final (Cologne)

2019/20 UEFA Champions League schedule

7-8 August: Round of 16 second legs (home teams' stadiums)

12-15 August: Quarter-finals (Lisbon)

18-19 August: Semi-finals (Lisbon)

23 August: Final (Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Lisbon)

Format

This year the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be a one-off fixture and it is being played at a neutral venue

Substitution rule

The teams can now make five substitutions in the match. However, the substitution will only be allowed at three points during the match. These three occasions do not include changes at half-time, between the end of normal playing time and extra time, and at half-time during extra time. One additional substitution will also be allowed during extra time.

The number of players will also increase from 18 to 23. Earlier this was allowed just for the finals.