The European Super League collapsed just after 48 hours from its official announcement. After strong protest from fans worldwide, Manchester City and Chelsea were the first clubs to pull out from the ESL, followed by the other Premier League clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Later, Spanish club Atletico Madrid and Italian side Inter Milan also withdrew from the European Super League. The clubs released official statements confirming their withdrawals. However, AC Milan, Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid are still in it, even though the chance of the Super League happening now is nil.
The would-be chairman of the Super League, Florentino Perez confirmed that the Super League project is not dead, it’s just on standby. UEFA were angry with the 12 clubs who wanted to form the breakaway Super League and wanted to punish them. Among the 12 founding clubs, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City are still in the Champions League, whereas Manchester United and Arsenal are in the Europa League.
It was rumoured that UEFA wanted to expel them from this season’s Champions League and Europa League and even banning them for some years. But, Perez always maintained that UEFA can’t expel them for sure. He said: No. They won’t be expelled from the Champions League. That’s for sure. Real Madrid won’t be, Man City won’t be, none of them will be expelled. That’s for sure. I am completely sure of it. Not from the Champions League, not from LaLiga, nothing like that.”
Now, it has been made official that there are no bans on the clubs for this season, and the matches were never suspended.
The first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals will take place as scheduled. Real Madrid will take on Chelsea on Wednesday, 28th April at 12:30 pm IST and a day later, on Thursday, 29th April, Manchester City will face Paris Saint-Germain at 12:30 om IST.
The UEFA Europa League fixtures will follow the UCL fixtures. Manchester United vs Roma and Villarreal vs Arsenal will take place on Friday, 30th April at 12:30 pm IST.
