Manchester: Manchester United will have to train at a German lower-tier club and withstand a lockdown of 13 days in Cologne if they progress to the Europa League final. United will play Copenhagen on August 10 at RheinEnergie Stadion in Cologne and upon winning they will play the semifinal at the same venue on August 17. The final is on August 21.
The organisers had earlier dished out a new fixture which says that the knockout stage will be single-legged compared to the double-leg that happens every year. The decision was taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his boys are supposed to fly to Germany this Sunday.
The biggest surprise for the EPL giants was when they discovered that UEFA has allotted them a training ground at the 12,000 seater Sudstadion, which is home to fourth-tier outfit Fortuna Koln, or a third division alternative as they can be called. United were expecting facilities of a Bundesliga club but told those are being utilised in preparation for the start of the new German season next month.
The regulations are the same for all the clubs in the tournament with local club Bayer Leverkusen compelled to vacate their state-of-the-art complex and practice 20 miles away in Dusseldorf before they face Inter Milan in the same place on Monday.
Solskjaer had preferred to fly in and out of Germany for the tournament and work with his team at Carrington as usual. “There’s been a discussion at a higher level than me as to how the tournament will pan out,” said the United boss earlier in the week. “You could look at it as just one game and you travel to an away game, but at the moment it looks like we’re staying for the tournament.”
