The Budapest Times
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Germany travel ban is Budapest’s gain

RB Leipzig-Liverpool Champions League game moved to Puskás Aréna

Written by Christopher Osterberg
The Champions League last-16 first-leg football match between Liverpool and RB Leipzig will be played in Budapest’s Puskás Aréna after Liverpool was banned from travelling to Germany, which has prohibited most travel from countries hit hard by new variants of Covid-19, including the UK.
Sports
7. February 2021 17:45

Bundesliga club Leipzig was told the fixture “did not meet the requirements for an exception”. The game will now take place in Budapest on the same date of February 16. It will be spectator-free because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The second leg will be played on March 10 at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium. Liverpool, managed by a German, Jurgen Klopp, is the defending English Premier League champion of 2019-20 and won the Champions League in 2018-19, defeating Tottenham Hotspur in the final, after losing the final against Real Madrid in the previous season.

Leipzig reached the Champions League semi-finals last season but was eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain, which lost the final to Bayern Munich.

Organising body UEFA thanked RB Leipzig and Liverpool for their “close cooperation and assistance in finding a solution”, as well as the Hungarian Football Federation for agreeing to host the match.

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