download All Football App

How can UCL draw be reversed after AC and Inter Milan were both drawn at home?

  /  autty

The Champions League quarter-final draw took place on Friday with both AC Milan and Inter Milan given home ties in the first leg.

Stefano Pioli's AC Milan will face fellow Serie A side Napoli, while Inter face Portuguese side Benfica - with three teams in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2005-06.

Both Milan and Inter have been scheduled to play at home despite both playing at the San Siro.

UEFA will have to bring in a fixture reversal if they are both scheduled to play on the same day. The European governing body has a firm stance on fixture changes should it ever be needed.

But how can a Champions League draw be reversed? And why will Inter's game be moved? Sportsmail provides all the answers below.

How can a Champions League draw be reversed?

Should two teams in the same city be scheduled to play on the same day, one of the games will be reversed - as per UEFA's protocol.

If this scenario occurs, UEFA will attempt to play the games on consecutive days.

However, Inter and Milan are not permitted to play home games without 24 hours of each other due to regulations from their local authorities in Milan.

In this case, one fixture is played as normal and the other is reversed.

The only time when a UEFA tie cannot be reversed is the Champions League round of 16 and the Europa League and Conference League knockout round play-off and round of 16 clash.

Why will Inter's game be reversed?

Despite being drawn to play at home before AC Milan, Inter's game with Benfica will now be reversed.

The team with higher priority in UEFA's Champions League participants will play their fixture as scheduled, while the team lower down will have their game reversed.

As Milan are the reigning Serie A champions, they will have priority. Piolo's men finished two points above their rivals last season.

The UEFA rules regarding the priority of Champions League participants are as follows:

This means that Inter's scheduled first leg at home against Benfica on April 11 will now take place in Portugal.

In 2019, both Manchester City and Manchester United were drawn at home in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

United were due to play Barcelona, while City were due to play Tottenham on Wednesday, April 17.

However, because United finished lower than City in the Premier League the previous season, their tie was reversed - meaning they played the first leg at home and the second leg in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, City finished as the home team in their second leg against Tottenham.

When will the Champions League quarter-finals take place?

The Champions League quarter-final first leg will take place on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 April, with the return legs scheduled for 18 and 19 April.

On the same day as the quarter final draw, the semi final draw will also take place.

The semi-final first legs will be on May 9 and 10, while the second legs will take place a week later.

This year's final will take place on Saturday, June 10 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.