Chelsea's Champions League away leg with Porto set to take place at neutral ground

Chelsea's quarter-final first leg away at FC Porto is set to become the latest Champions League tie to be moved to a neutral venue.

The news comes after the Portuguese government tightened their restrictions on incoming flights on Monday, amid concerns over the spread of Covid-19 elsewhere in Europe.

Thomas Tuchel's Blues were due to travel to Porto to face the Portuguese champions in the quarter-final first leg on 7 April. Chelsea are heavy favourites to reach a semi-final with either Real Madrid or Liverpool, and are yet to taste defeat since Tuchel took the reins in January.

They may have been handed an incremental advantage ahead of the first leg as Sky Sports' Angelo Mangiante reports it is 'very likely' to be moved to a neutral venue.

Mangiante adds that Seville - a city with three pretty big stadiums - have offered to host the tie, but there has been no official announcement on a new venue just yet.

The Puskas Arena in Budapest has already played host to a number of fixtures rehoused due to the pandemic, while Chelsea's away leg against Atletico Madrid - which they won 1-0 - took place at Bucharest's Arena Nationala.

In the Europa League, Juventus' Allianz Stadium, Roma's Stadio Olimpico, Villarreal's Estadio de la Cerámica and Olympiacos' Karaiskakis Stadium have been used as alternative venues.

It is unlikely to be a coincidence that this news broke on the same day the Portuguese government announced fresh restrictions on incoming flights. The UK was included on a list of 28 countries from which incoming flights have been further prohibited.

The second leg, due to take place at Stamford Bridge on 13 April, is expected to go ahead in London as planned after Chelsea were permitted to host Atletico there last month.