Report: UEFA to stage Champions League 'final 8' tournament in Lisbon

This season's Champions League will be completed in a "final eight" tournament in Lisbon, with the title match slated for Aug. 23, sources told Simon Evans of Reuters.

UEFA's executive committee is expected to ratify the plan for Europe's premier club competition on Wednesday, Evans added.

The Champions League was suspended in March, midway through the round of 16, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament is expected to resume in early August, with the second legs of the remaining last-16 matches to be played at their originally scheduled venues. Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, and Manchester City will host games - without fans in attendance - against Napoli, Chelsea, Lyon, and Real Madrid, respectively.

Once those matches are completed, the scene will shift to the Portuguese capital.

The quarterfinals and semifinals, usually two-legged affairs, will be condensed into single-elimination games. The semis are expected to take place Aug. 18-19 and will be shared between Benfica's Estadio da Luz and Sporting CP's Jose Alvalade Stadium. The former will host the final.

The final was initially slated to take place May 30 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, but UEFA changed course when it became clear the Turkish city was no longer a practical option due to the pandemic.

Istanbul will host the 2021 final instead, according to Evans, with subsequently scheduled hosts seeing their duties pushed back a year.

A similar format will reportedly be used for this season's Europa League, with matches to be played at various sites in Germany. That competition's final eight is expected to be staged across Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, and Cologne.