The cancelation of Ligue 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic could have a devastating impact on Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League when it resumes this August.
Both teams last played a competitive match last March, which means once the Champions League kicks off again, the two French clubs would have had a five-month layoff while teams from England, Germany, Italy, and Spain all have their domestic leagues resuming play in the coming weeks if they haven’t started already.
This will allow clubs like FC Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and FC Barcelona to find their rhythm and match fitness ahead of the Champions League.
PSG is expected to return to training on June 22, and then play a series of friendlies in July. The problem with that plan, according to RMC Sport, is that because all of the other top teams will be competing in their domestic leagues to finish the season, there are really no high-quality teams to play.
Ajax was floated as an option but the Dutch government has a ban on playing and the club is unlikely to fly to Paris for a friendly.
Another idea was to get four French clubs, including PSG, and play a friendly tournament in Qatar, but then everyone realized that was a horrible idea because of how hot it is there in July.
That leaves PSG and Lyon looking around Europe for clubs that they can play in order to prepare for the Champions League (and the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue finals, which PSG will play in both).
Have we considered those football-playing robots? That might be what it comes down to…
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