Fans Complain About UCL Quarter-Final Time Clashes

March 19, 2024

Fans are livid that Arsenal and Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarter-final matches are being played on the same night.

Last Friday, 15 March, the UCL quarter-finals draw took place in Nyon, Switzerland: there, the Gunners learned that they would be facing Bayern Munich, while the Citizens will be playing against Real Madrid.

However, both matches will take place on Tuesday, 9 April: Arsenal and Bayern will clash at Emirates Stadium in London, England, while City and Real will go head-to-head at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain.

Fans took to social media to bemoan these scheduling conflicts, aiming their ire at UEFA.

“Arsenal vs Bayern and Madrid vs City on the same night and time is just annoying,” one fan wrote. “They don’t have to play on the same night just because they’re on the same side of the map lol [sic], surely this is something UEFA and broadcasters could have worked on.”

Another fan wondered if crowd control in Spain had anything to do with it, as Atletico Madrid – who face Borussia Dortmund at a nearby stadium the next day, Wednesday 10 April – playing on the same night as Real would have been chaotic.

Regardless, the same fan labelled it as a “ridiculous decision from UEFA … [who] should have reversed the Atletico tie like they did to Inter [Milan] last year.”

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