It does make sense to have one legged fixtures in Europe just now with the current covid-19 concerns, so the details emerging about Arsenal’s Europa League clash with Benfica are bordering on madness.
Arsenal officially confirmed that that the two legs will need to be held at neutral venues due to the ongoing pandemic, but it’s hard to see how this makes sense.
Arsenal’s home fixture will be played in Greece at the home of Olympiacos, While the Benfica home leg will be played in Rome at the Stadio Olimpico.
What this means is we are essentially seeing two squads travel to two different countries because there are concerns over Portugal just now, but that really just extends the risk of the virus being spread to new countries.
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On top of that it’s also been confirmed that away goals will be enforced over the fixture despite both teams playing in unfamiliar grounds with no fans, so it’s tough to see who thought this was the best way of dealing with things.
There’s also the danger that rules will change and Greece or Italy may decide to suddenly change their own laws in relation to international travel if anything escalates, so there’s still time for these plans to be tested as well.