May 30 should have been the day Istanbul hosted the Champions League final but it was postponed by UEFA due to the novel coronavirus.
VIDEO SHOWS: AERIALS AND EXTERIORS OF THE 2020 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL VENUE - ISTANBUL'S ATATURK STADIUM, FOOTAGE OF RESTAURANTS AND BARS IN ISTANBUL, FILE FOOTAGE OF THE 2005 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL IN ISTANBUL SHOWS: ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MAY 28, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE) 1.
VARIOUS AERIALS OF ATATURK OLYMPIC STADIUM ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MAY 27, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 2.
VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF ATATURK OLYMPIC STADIUM 3.
EMPTY SEATS 4.
EXTERIOR OF THE STADIUM 5.
VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE GATE ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MAY 28, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6.
VIEW OF EMPTY STREET IN TAKSIM SQUARE WHERE PUBS AND RESTAURANTS FREQUENTED BY SPORTS FANS ARE LOCATED 7.
EXTERIOR OF DUBLINER IRISH PUB, A GATHERING POINT FOR LIVERPOOL SUPPORTERS AHEAD OF MATCHES PLAYED IN TURKEY 8.
SIGN OF DUBLINER IRISH PUB 9.
NOTES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH SEEN ON WINDOW NOTIFYING CUSTOMERS THE PUB IS CLOSED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS 10.
VARIOUS INTERIORS OF ANOTHER CLOSED PUB WITH EMPTY TABLES AND CHAIRS 11.
VARIOUS OF STREET WITH CLOSED BARS AND RESTAURANTS 12 VARIOUS OF RESTAURANT MANAGER SEZGIN TATLICIOGLU SPEAKING TO PEOPLE 13.
(SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESTAURANT MANAGER, SEZGIN TATLICIOGLU, SAYING: "Hopefully, we will get over this quickly and this (match) will happen in the coming period.
However, we don't know how long this situation will last and when it will be over.
Hopefully, these events will take place without any problem in the future." 14.
VARIOUS OF TABLES AND CHAIRS OF A CLOSED PUB ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MAY 24 2005) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 15.
EXTERIOR OF ATATURK STADIUM 16.
INTERIOR OF STADIUM / AC MILAN TRAINING SESSION AHEAD OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL 17.
TRAINING CONDUCTED BY COACH CARLO ANCELOTTI 18.
AC MILAN TRAINING IN PROGRESS 19.
LIVERPOOL MANAGER, RAFAEL BENITEZ AT TRAINING, TALKING TO DEFENDER SAMI HYYPIA 20.
PLAYERS ON PITCH 21.
LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN, STEVEN GERRARD (LEFT) WITH JOHN ARNE RIISE 22.
LIVERPOOL STRIKER, DJIBRIL CISSE STANDING IN MIDDLE OF PITCH 23.
TRAINING IN PROGRESS ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MAY 25, 2005) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 24.
LIVERPOOL FANS SINGING 'WE'VE ONLY WON IT FIVE TIMES' AFTER THEIR TEAM BEAT AC MILAN IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL 25.
FIREWORKS 26.
FANS SIGNING IN PRAISE OF THEN-MANAGER RAFA BENITEZ ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MAY 25, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE) 27.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF HERNAN CRESPO CELEBRATING AFTER SCORING FOR AC MILAN 28.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN STEVEN GERRARD SCORING A GOAL WITH A HEADER TO CUT AC MILAN'S LEAD TO 3-1 29.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL'S VLADIMIR SMICER CELEBRATING AFTER PULLING ANOTHER GOAL BACK 30.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL'S XABI ALONSO SCORING FROM A REBOUND AFTER HIS PENALTY WAS INITIALLY SAVED 31.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL PLAYERS RUNNING TO CELEBRATE WITH ALONSO 32.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL GOALKEEPER JERZY DUDEK SAVING ANDREI SHEVCHENKO'S PENALTY DURING PENALTY SHOOT OUT 33.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIVERPOOL PLAYERS RUNNING TO CELEBRATE VICTORY 34.
STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF STEVEN GERRARD LIFTING TROPHY ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MAY 25, 2005) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 35.
GERRARD RECEIVING MAN OF MATCH AWARD FROM RAFA BENITEZ 36.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) THEN-LIVERPOOL MANAGER, RAFA BENITEZ, SAYING: "No, we say to the players 'we need to do something we cannot go and play 45 minutes in front of our supporters and lose 4, 5 goals, we need to do the same things but press with more energy and if we score one goal we can change the game' and at the end we scored three goals in a few minutes and that means that we started thinking and believing it was possible." ISTANBUL, TURKEY (FILE - MAY 26, 2005) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (TURKEY TV8 - NO USE TURKEY) 37.
VARIOUS OF LIVERPOOL PLAYERS WITH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TROPHY STORY: May 30 should have been the day Istanbul hosted the Champions League final but it was postponed by UEFA due to the novel coronavirus.
Soccer, as with most sports around the world, has been brought to a near standstill by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the German Bundesliga the first major European League to resume last week after a two-month hiatus.
The Champions League and Europa League are stalled in the middle of its round of 16.
UEFA, European soccer's governing body, wants the Champions League final to be held in at Istanbul's Ataturk Stadium on Aug.
29, three days after the Europa League final in Gdansk.
Those decisions are likely to be made at UEFA's executive committee meeting on June 17.
It's been 15 years since Istanbul last hosted the Champions League final when Liverpool fought back from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties.
(Production: Mehmet Emin Caliskan, Bulent Usta, Yesim Dikmen, Tim Hart)
May 27 should have been the day Gdansk hosted the Europa League final but like so many other sports events it was postponed by UEFA..
