Phantom Champions in Lisbon

There is no trace of the Champions League in Lisbon. No trace to follow in the capital of Portugal allows us to intuit that there are barely 24 hours until this final to eight starts that UEFA had to improvise due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are no fans, and almost no tourists. A ghostly image and certainly somewhat sad. But, things are like this. If one walks up the Avenida de la Libertade from the Rossio to enter the main commercial artery of the city, hardly any marquee with a poster announcing the RB Leipzig presided over by Nkunku with the slogan “As tuas cores ainda estao em jogo “(” your colors are still in play “)Perhaps playing with the red that Leipzig and Benfica share to seek a certain complicity from the people. But from what people. The advertising poster, then, is still an advertisement for Red Bull (“Die roten bustle”, the red bulls).

The UEFA, so detailed in each final of the Champions, in which each emblematic space of the host cities is filled with football motifs, He has not put up signs around the city center. For not putting, he has not even put them in the Da Luz stadium, where Benfica players train anonymously in the gym under the orders of Jorge Jesús, much loved by the fans. The only sign in the Lisbon stadium that there is a final to eight are those little signs indicating the collection of accreditations for the press and work areas for the media. Some official UEFA vehicles and television trucks they are also stationed on the main esplanade of the Lisbon stadium. Some clueless take a photo of Eusebio's bust and a small group completes the Benfica tour. There is no access to the club store, only one that the sponsor, Adidas, has at its side.

The coverage in the media is minimal. Televisions are much more aware of the first days of Jorge Jesus at Benfica, or the signings of Adán and Feddal by Sporting Lisbon, than Atalanta-PSG this Wednesday. Until this Tuesday there has not been a single line in the sports media of the city, A Bola and Récord, and the news is the two positives of Atlético de Madrid. The Europa League is of much more interest in Portugal. The Manchester United of Bruno 'Rei' Fernandes, the Wolves of Nuno, Ruben Neves. Moutinho; the Shakhtar directed by Luis Castro.

If there is any prism from which Lisbon looks at this final to eight, it is from a health point of view. The media celebrate that the Motorcycle World Championship will end at the Portimao circuit from November 20 to 22; that a Formula 1 GP be held from October 23 to 25 and that Lisbon has been chosen to host the Champions League. Paradoxically, both in Formula 1 and in the motorcycling GP there will be fans if the health situation allows it. Up to 28,000 tickets have already been sold for Formula One. Last weekend, the authorities conducted a rehearsal in the World Superbike race. 250 people watched the race and protocols were rehearsed for the two world events.

In Da Luz and José Alvalade, however, there will be no public. UEFA has prepared a Champions League for footballers and viewers, but not for fans. The health situation requires it. “Football without an audience is not football. Confinement has created a different sport,” Gattuso complained bitterly last Friday. in Barcelona. This wonderful Lisbon that had to be abuzz in Rossio at this time will see the Champions pass like a ghost.