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Young Boys given green light for Manchester trip

A special permit has been granted to ensure next week's Champions League game against Young Boys can take place at Old Trafford.

Because Switzerland recently introduced new Covid-19 restrictions – relating to the Omicron variant – there were fears that Young Boys might have been unable to travel to the United Kingdom.
 
The Swiss government has introduced a 10-day quarantine period for those returning to their country from the UK, but have now confirmed that YB will be granted special permission to travel without any restrictions.

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In a statement, the club said:
 
“BSC Young Boys has received a special permit from the Canton of Bern for away games in the UEFA Champions League and the Uefa Youth League.
 
“This means that the players and staff of the teams do not have to be in 10-day quarantine after returning from the UEFA Champions League game Manchester United-YB on Wednesday, December 8.
 
“This would have meant that the Swiss champions would not have been able to play the championship games against Sion (December 12) and Basel (December 15) and would also have played the last game of the year on December 19 in Lugano, coming straight from quarantine.”
Young Boys will have to maintain a strict bubble throughout their trip to the UK, but will now be able to play at Old Trafford for only the second time in their history, following 2018's Champions League meeting between the sides.
 
United have already qualified from Champions League Group F as group winners, but Young Boys need to beat the Reds and hope Atalanta lose to Villarreal in order to qualify for the UEFA Europa League. Both games take place at 20:00 GMT on Wednesday 8 December.
 
Meanwhile, our Under-19s are assured of a top-two finish in their group of the UEFA Youth League. They face Young Boys at Leigh Sports Village on the same day next week (kick-off 15:00 GMT), in their final group-stage fixture. 

Our group stage so far: