The venue for Atletico Madrid v Chelsea in the Champions League has been changed

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Atletico Madrid’s home tie with Chelsea in the Champions League has been moved to Bucharest because of the Spanish government’s rules on flights arriving from the UK.

UEFA have confirmed that Chelsea’s Champions League Round of 16 first leg match away against Atletico Madrid and will now be played at the Arena Nationala in Bucharest in Romania.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Chelsea aren’t the only UK team affected by restrictions to UK travellers as Liverpool are unable to travel to Germany for their clash with RB Leipzig.

Liverpool were due to travel to Leipzig for the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday the 16th of February but the venue has now been changed due to COVID restrictions in Germany.

Leipzig will now no longer have home advantage it seems after news revealed today by UEFA in an official statement shows that the tie will now be played in Hungary in the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

The Hungarian Football Federation worked closely with UEFA to facilitate them and host Leipzig’s home leg of the competition. The game was originally set to take place in the Red Bull Arena but Leipzig have agreed for the change of Venue.

Tweet courtesy of Liverpool FC via Twitter

Liverpool confirmed in their club statement that the tie can not take place as Germany’s COVID guideline prevent the reds from travelling into the country despite being elite athletes.