The coronavirus pandemic forced the world of sport to get creative and UEFA was not spared the scheduling headache caused by the breakout of COVID-19.
Football in Europe ground to a halt in March, with the Champions League and Europa League suspended as hero health workers around the globe battled to keep the virus under control.
UEFA landed on a solution of completing both tournaments as one-game knockouts from the quarter-finals onwards (some last-16 ties in the Europa League were also single-leg ties) in a format mirroring the latter stages of a World Cup or European Championship.
It has proven very popular with supporters, who saw Lyon and RB Leipzig upset the odds to reach the Champions League semi-finals perhaps emboldened by the all-or-nothing situation th…