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Europa League plan unveiled as Rangers set for indefinite wait for Bayer Leverkusen second leg

Rangers face not playing their Europa League second leg against Bayer Leverkusen for the foreseeable future as UEFA announce the competition is suspended until further notice.

The first leg went ahead in front of a capacity Ibrox crowd as Steven Gerrard 's men were beaten 3-1 on the night.

The following day it was confirmed that the second leg had been postponed and on Tuesday UEFA held a crisis summit to deal with the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

UEFA President Alexander Ceferin and secretary general Theodore Theodoridis have announced that the Europa League and Champions League have been suspended until the COVID-19 pandemic is in a "descendant phase".

It's hoped that football will be able to resume as normal by the middle of April to allow both competitions to be completed, with both to be restarted as soon as the health situation allows.

It's also been announced that the governing body will form two working groups to deal with the crisis.

The first will deal with the fixture calendar, with two representatives from UEFA, two from the ECA (European Club Association) and two from the European Leagues. The second working group will deal with the financial consequences of the decisions taken.

The decision is still to be ratified by the executive committee but that will be rubber stamped later on Tuesday.

(AFP via Getty Images)

The plan is still to complete both tournaments by June 30, with Spain's Cadena Ser and Marca reporting that the Champions League final has been provisionally scheduled for June 27.

It's thought the Europa League final has been pencilled in for June 24.

But that will depend on how the situation with COVID-19 develops in the intervening months.

UEFA are keen to get both competitions finished before June 30 as that is when players' contracts will expire.

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