Football Flash

Florin Orban, 20.04.2017, 12:26

The four Champions League finalists were decided on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Madrid-based teams Real and Atletico booked their tickets for the last-but-one stage of the competition, while on Wednesday, Juventus of Turin and AS Monaco secured their positions in the Champions League semifinals. Juve snatched a precious blank draw against Barcelona FC away from home, having deservedly secured a 3-nil home win in the first leg.

On home turf, AS Monaco beat German challengers Borussia Dortmund 3-1, having also won the first leg away from home, 3-2. The drawing for the semifinals will take place in a UEFA building in the Swiss town of Nyon. Matches in the first leg of the semifinals fixtures are scheduled for May 2nd and 3rd, respectively, while the return leg will be played a week later.

On Wednesday, UEFAs Disciplinary Committee announced that Olympique Lyon and Beshiktash Istanbul football clubs would be banned from participating in the following European competition they will qualify for, with a two-year probation period. The sanction was imposed in the wake of last weeks clashes that flared up during the first leg of Europa Leagues quarterfinals. The sanction comes into force should new clashes occur during Lyons and Beshiktashs fixtures scheduled in the two following European competition seasons.

Olympique Lyon was blamed for being unable to separate Turkish from host team supporters, as well as of being incapable of preventing fans from invading the pitch after the second goal scored by Olympique Lyon. Beshiktash was found responsible for the firecrackers that were thrown from the stands as well as for the incidents caused by the Turkish fans.

We continue with news from domestic football. Six Romanian teams have been granted the license required for their participation in the European Cups. The Romanian Football Federations Licensing Administration officially granted the permission to play in European Cups to the following teams: FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, Viitorul Constanta, Dinamo Bucharest, CSU Craiova, Astra Giurgiu and FC Botosani. The first five teams play in the play off stage, while FC Botosani will compete in the play-out.

Romania will send five teams in the European competitions. In descending order, the first two teams of the domestic championship are entitled to play in the Champions League preliminaries. 3rd and 4th-placed teams will play in Europa League preliminaries, just like the winner of the Romanian Cup. However, in order to officially gain access to the aforementioned competitions, the teams must obtain their license from the Federation.