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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jamie Kemble

Arsenal forced to pay compensation by UEFA while Chelsea and Liverpool avoid bill

Arsenal will have to pay compensation to Sporting Lisbon Benfica over their relocated Europa League clash.

The Gunners will be out of pocket due to the moving of the fixture to Rome's Stadio Olimpico, but other English teams who have had their fixtures moved will not have to pay any compensation.

Liverpool and Manchester City have both had one of their Champions League fixtures with German opponents moved to the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's first leg fixture with Atletico Madrid has been moved to Arena National in Bucharest and Manchester United's first leg clash with Real Sociedad has also been moved, now taking place at the Allianz Arena in Turin.

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Those four ties have all been moved due to regulations elsewhere with Germany and Spain preventing entry from the UK amid concerns over coronavirus variants.

But none of the four English clubs in the Champions League have to pay compensation, as Arsenal have to do to their Europa League Round of 32 rivals Benfica.

And that's because the Champions League sides have all had their games relocated due to rules set by the counties of their rivals, while Arsenal cannot face Benfica at Estadio de la Luz because the UK has banned travel from Portugal.

UEFA Rule K1.3(ii) states that if a change in venue is caused by a restriction by the government of the visiting team's country, 10 per cent of the match fee must be paid to the home club.

As found by the Daily Mail, Arsenal are in line to earn €500,000 (£440,000) for reaching the Europa League last 32 and, as such, will need to pay Benfica £44,000 in compensation.

There is also doubt over the second leg, which is due to take place on February 25.

Due to the UK ban on flights from Portugal, Benfica stars wouldn't be able to play at the Emirates Stadium, and that led the fixture to be moved to Athens.

But Greece have since gone into lockdown, meaning the Gunners require a new location for that second leg.

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