"In the light of developments due to the spread of COVID-19 in Europe and related decisions made by different governments, all UEFA club competitions matches scheduled next week are postponed," a statement on the UCL website read.

The postponement includes the remaining UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg matches scheduled on 18 and 19 March (AEDT); all UEFA Europa League Round of 16 second leg matches scheduled on 20 March (AEDT) as well as all UEFA Youth League quarter-final matches scheduled on 18 and 19 March (AEDT).

Further decisions on when these matches take place will be communicated in due course, the statement continued.

As a consequence of the postponements, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League quarter-final draws scheduled for 20 March have also been postponed.

UEFA yesterday invited representatives of its 55 member associations, together with the boards of the European Club Association and the European Leagues and a representative of FIFPro, to a videoconference meeting on Tuesday 17 March to discuss European football’s response to the outbreak.