The league is considering postponing Sporting’s game with Farense

On March 6, Sporting will play against Atalanta. This was the solution found to resolve the confusion surrounding the Leo calendar.

Benfica and Sporting will have to play the first leg of the Europa League round of 16, with Rangers and Atalanta at home respectively. But UEFA does not allow two matches of its competition to be played in the same city on the same day.

Since Benfica are the national champions, they have priority, so Sporting will have to push their game forward. Instead of playing on Thursday, March 7th, it would be fine if the game were played two days earlier, on Tuesday, the 5th. That wait would have created a problem for the Lions’ calendar, namely the previous weekend’s game. with Farense, for the League. This is due to the fact that the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-final with Benfica is scheduled for Thursday 29 February. In other words, the meeting with the Algarvians in order to comply with the 72 hours of rest could only take place on Sunday the 3rd, but then there would no longer be a minimum rest time for participation in the Europa League.

As the CM has already said, the behind-the-scenes conversations were carried out to the minute and the solution found had crucial help from the PSP. Police have issued a positive report on the security conditions for the game against Atalanta if it were to take place on Wednesday 6. UEFA is concerned that Italian and Scottish fans crossing paths could create unrest in the Portuguese capital.

Since PSP assured that it could put together a workable device that would guarantee safety, UEFA scheduled Sporting’s game with Atalanta for the 6th, at 17:45. Thus, Sporting will play Benfica for the Cup on February 29, Farense for the Cup on March 3 and Atalanta for the Europa League on March 6, always with the normative 72 hours of rest.