UEFA have confirmed that they have plans in place to prepare for a potential Europa League final between Rangers and Liverpool.

Dublin will host the final on May 22 with both British heavyweights hoping to reach the quarter-finals this Thursday having gained positive first leg results against Benfica and Sparta Prague respectively.

That’s prompted “serious concerns” from UEFA chiefs that the pair could go all the way to the showpiece event at the Aviva Stadium. In that case, the 52,000 arena and surrounding areas wouldn’t be big enough to accommodate the demand.

That is why UEFA secretary Theodore Theodoridis has confessed they are in talks with several stakeholders around finding a solution including using the 80,000 capacity Croke Park that’s situated across the city, and acknowledged that Rangers and Liverpool already have large fan bases across Northern and Southern Ireland.

He said: “One of the biggest challenges for us this year could be the Europa League final.

“Under certain conditions, because of the potential teams that could qualify, this might end up being the most challenging for us.

READ MORE: Rangers in Europa League final flux as Dublin hosting 'fears' grow

“We know they will bring a number of supporters without tickets and then there is the issue of potential public viewing venues.

“There are a couple of pairings – I won’t speculate on the names but you are clever enough to work it out – that would be extremely challenging to find ways to accommodate everybody that will be present for that game

“We have already reserved Croke Park as a potential public viewing venue, but that could not be enough.

“We are working on this already, together with the local authorities and also Football Supporters Europe.

“If we do get to one of those scenarios, we will also go to the supporters of the clubs involved to find the best solution.

“The biggest problem we have now is whether Croke Park would be big enough – because we think we would need more alternatives for public viewing for the people who will be in Dublin.

“It’s not an easy operation and it is just for a couple of scenarios which would make it extremely complicated – especially with clubs who already have a large fanbase on the island of Ireland.

“But we are working on it and will involve the fanbases as well. We have to see who gets to the semis and then we will start to work with them as well.”