UEFA confident Europa ties will go ahead

Uefa is confident Liverpool and Fulham's Europa League semi-finals will go ahead despite travel chaos caused by the drift of volcanic ash from Iceland.

Liverpool and Fulham are due to travel to Spain and Germany respectively for Thursday's ties.

BBC Sport understands Uefa is confident in the contingency plans, but it will monitor the situation and make a final decision in the next couple of days.

The Champions League semi-finals will go ahead on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Barcelona will travel over land to Italy for Tuesday's first leg against against Inter Milan if they are unable to fly, while French side Lyon will make a similar trip for their tie at Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Pep Guardiola, coach of European champions Barcelona, said: "If we go by road we will not have the desired recovery, but there are many teams in the Segunda B (Spanish third tier) who travel 16 or 17 hours by coach every week."

Rafael Benitez's Liverpool team will be hopeful their tie against Atletico Madrid in the Spanish capital gets the go-ahead, while Roy Hodgson's Fulham are scheduled to fly to Hamburg on Wednesday ahead of their first leg tie against the city's Bundesliga side the following day.

UK air restrictions are in place until at least 0100 BST on Monday following a significant eruption at the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland, the second in less than a month.

As a result, Uefa has been in contact with the London club and the Football Association about the travel situation.

"One of Uefa's concerns is that it should be fair and that their opponents don't have to go through hell and high water to get to the game," said Hodgson.

"An ideal scenario would be that the volcanic ash clears up and we can fly over to Germany.

"It's totally and utterly linked to if there are flights. If there are no flights then the only option is to get a train and bus to Hamburg.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.