Coronavirus: Liverpool, Barcelona could miss out on titles as Uefa fears season may be lost to COVID-19
Rome: Every Liverpool fans worst footballing nightmare could come true in the near future if Uefa’s fears are confirmed and the Europeans leagues to not get back under way before July.
Jurgen Klopp’s men were a shoo-in for the 20-19-20 Premier League title — their first top-flight gong in 30 years — before the global coronavirus pandemic brought the soccer campaigns to a premature halt, with the Reds 25 points clear with nine games remaining.
The head of Uefa has announced that the current season could be “lost” if it is unable to restart by the end of June.
President Aleksander Ceferin told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that there were a number of options for concluding the season, which has been brought to a halt around Europe by the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is a plan A, B and C. The three options are to start again in mid-May, in June or at the end of June, if we don’t succeed, the season will probably be lost,” he said.
However, he then added: “There is also the possibility of starting again at the beginning of the next, starting the following one later. We will see the best solution for leagues and clubs.”
Liverpool are not the only front-runners in Europe’s top-flight leagues as Paris St-Germain were running away with the league in France, Bayer Munich were looking good in Germany, Barcelona had the edge over Real Madrid and Spain and Juventus and Inter Milan were fighting it out in Italy.
In Scotland, Celtic could be denied nine titles in a row if the season is cancelled.
However, Ceferin has said the finishing domestic leagues was the priority, even if it meant playing behind closed doors.
“It’s hard for me to imagine all the matches behind closed doors, but we still don’t know whether we’ll resume, with or without spectators.
“If there was no alternative, it would be better to finish the championships anyway,” he said.
“But I can say that I don’t think about the finals of the European club competitions behind closed doors.” Ceferin said that the decision to postpone Euro 2020 until next year “has shown that every emergency is our emergency and every club is our club.” He said that a videoconference with representatives of clubs, leagues and players was “a fantastic demonstration of unity and solidarity.” He was also talking to FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino despite recent differences.
“It is important to forget personal interests and disagreements,” he said.