There’s still a lot of football to be played the European Champions League for 2020.

In fact, you could argue there’s never been more interest – unless you are a fan of last year’s winner, Liverpool, who are already out – due to the lack of football during the long months of lockdown.

In addition, the start of the Premier League, traditionally around the second weekend in August, has been delayed to allow for the Champions League to be completed in these extraordinary times.

Manchester City fans will be hoping Pep Guardiola can guide his team to a first victory in this competition.

There’s no reason they can’t. The biggest battle will be the one in the mind – the belief that they can deliver come crunch time.

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First up, they will need to glide past Real Madrid first, and then win the next three.

City holds a 2-1 lead and home advantage so it would be nothing short of a disaster if they don’t progress.

Chelsea fans will be hoping their team can bounce back after an extremely disappointing FA Cup final loss to Arsenal last weekend.

What made it especially difficult to stomach was that they had taken an early lead.

Still, full credit to the Gunners, who look set to be more threatening next season.

There are four ‘Last 16’ games which need to be completed, to decide who will make up the eight quarter-finalists.

The quarters and semi will be straight knock out matches, in other words, no home and away, due to Covid-19.

The knockout games will be played at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal, behind closed doors.

FIXTURES

LAST 16 
Friday, August 7 
9pm: Juventus vs Lyon
9pm: Manchester City vs Real Madrid

Saturday, August 8
9pm: Bayern vs Chelsea
9pm: Barcelona vs Napoli

QUARTER-FINALS
Wednesday, August 12
9pm: Atalanta vs Paris Saint-Germain

Thursday, August 13
9pm: RB Leipzeg vs Atletico Madrid

Friday, August 14
Napoli/Barcelona vs Bayern/Chelsea

Saturday, August 15
9pm: Real Madrid/Manchester City vs Juventus/Lyon

SEMI FINALS
Tuesday, August 18
9pm: To be decided

Wednesday, August 19
9pm: To be decided

From…
RB Leipzig vs Atletico Madrid – Atalanta vs Paris Saint-Germain
Real Madrid/Manchester City vs Lyon/Juventus – Napoli/Barcelona vs Chelsea/Bayern Munich

FINAL
9pm: Sunday, August 23

PAST WINNERS SINCE 1993
1993: Marseille
1994: Milan
1995: Ajax
1996: Juventus
1997: Dortmund
1998: Real Madrid
1999: Manchester United
2000: Real Madrid
2001: Bayern München
2002: Real Madrid
2003: Milan
2004: Porto
2005: Liverpool
2006: Barcelona
2007: Milan
2008: Manchester United
2009: Barcelona
2010: Internazionale
2011: Barcelona
2012: Chelsea
2013: Bayern München
2014: Real Madrid
2015: Barcelona
2016: Real Madrid
2017: Real Madrid
2018: Real Madrid
2019: Liverpool

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