The Champions League will take centre stage throughout August with Europe’s elite set to face off in an exciting mini tournament.
Nearly five months on from the competition being put on hold, the remaining round of 16 ties will finally get sorted this weekend.
The eight teams who make the quarter-finals will then all head off to Portugal for a quick-fire fortnight of action before the final on August 23 in Lisbon.
Manchester City, who knocked out Real Madrid in the Round of 16, remain favourites to win the famous trophy but plenty of Europe’s biggest clubs are still firmly in the mix.
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Champions League: How will the knockout stage work?
The COVID-19 lockdown stopped Europe’s elite competition in mid-March with the round of 16 ties halfway through completion.
As such, the quarter-final and semi-final draws were put on hold and then finally completed on July 10.
Now the tournament is ready to restart next month with a ‘World Cup’ style fortnight planned to get it done and dusted.
This season’s quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will all be played as a straight knockout tournament in Lisbon.
The ties will be single-leg fixtures and held at either Benfica’s Estadio da Luz or Sporting Lisbon’s Estadio Jose Alvalade.
The remaining Round of 16 matches will be held as normal in the first week of August before the remaining teams jet off to Portugal a week later.
Champions League: What are the key dates?
Round of 16 second legs
- Juventus 2-2 (agg) Lyon – Lyon win on away goals
- Man City 4-2 (agg) Real Madrid
- Barcelona (1) vs (1) Napoli – August 8, Nou Camp – LIVE on talkSPORT 2
- Bayern Munich (3) vs (0) Chelsea – August 8, Allianz Arena – LIVE on talkSPORT
Quarter-finals
- Atalanta v Paris St-Germain – August 12, Estadio da Luz – LIVE on talkSPORT 2
- RB Leipzig v Atletico Madrid – August 13, Estadio Jose Alvalade – LIVE on talkSPORT 2
- Napoli or Barcelona v Chelsea or Bayern Munich – August 14, Estadio da Luz
- Manchester City v Lyon – August 15, Estadio Jose Alvalade
Semi-finals
- Man City or Lyon vs Barcelona/Napoli or Bayern Munich/Chelsea – August 18, Estadio da Luz
- RB Leipzig or Atletico Madrid vs Atalanta or Paris Saint-Germain – August 19, Estadio Jose Alvalade
Final
- August 23, Estadio da Luz
Champions League: When is the 2020/21 competition?
The qualifying rounds for NEXT season’s Champions League starts THIS weekend.
The preliminary round of matches start on Saturday, August 8 with Northern Ireland’s Linfield in action.
The main qualifying will then get underway later this month with Celtic involved.
The competition proper is set to begin on October 20.
Champions League: Radio coverage and how to watch
talkSPORT will bring you coverage of the rest of the Champions League this season.
We’ll bring you Bayern Munich vs Chelsea live plus Juventus vs Lyon and Barcelona vs Napoli this week before heading off to Portugal.
talkSPORT will be in Lisbon for the big games plus the Champions League final.
Meanwhile, BT Sport have the TV rights for the rest of the tournament.
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