NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The race for an additional Champions League position next season is heating up and while Arsenal did their Premier League rivals a huge favour by beating Porto, Borussia Dortmund’s victory nullified it.
Mikel Arteta’s side reached the last 16 of the tournament after beating Porto on penalties, with David Raya saving two penalties, while Dortmund won 2-0 at home to PSV on Wednesday night.
Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester United will all be watching the matches and the effects could have a big impact on the Premier League’s decision on whether or not to secure an additional Champions League spot.
For the 2024/25 Champions League campaign, there will be an expanded tournament with 36 teams, 4 more than currently, two of which will be filled through “European functionality places”.
These places will be awarded to associations that have fulfilled the collective functionality, i. e. their coefficient, through their clubs in Europe this season. For the Premier League, which already has 4 places in the Champions League, this would mean that the fifth position also qualifies. .
But English clubs have performed rather poorly this season, with Manchester United and Newcastle eliminated in the Champions League organization phase, while their representatives in the Europa League and Europa Conference League have missed out on other coefficient issues by qualifying as organization winners and skipping qualification. Competition. Dam Tower.
Wins are rewarded with two coefficients and a draw with one point, with nothing in the event of a defeat, while there are also bonuses for participating in the other phases of the competition. The total is then divided by the number of clubs and has competed in Europe to create an average coefficient.
Prior to Arsenal’s clash with Porto, Italy were leading the race by a fairly large margin, amassing 116 points across their seven clubs for an average of 16,571. Germany is second with 15,500 and England third with 14,625, France hot on their heels.
After Wednesday’s games, the rungs of the coefficient table look like this. . .
Arsenal’s win, along with a bonus point for progression and quarter-final participation, means the Premier League coefficient is 0. 375 points.
Dortmund’s win is worth a little more (0. 428 points), as the average German coefficient is only divided into seven groups of 8 for England.
Italy remains in a strong position despite Napoli and Inter dropping out of the Champions League, with four groups still active and progressing well in other competitions, and second place in the European standings likely to be contested between Germany, England, France and Spain.
Germany | Ranked: 2 | In Action: 2 | Maximum coefficient: 23. 071
Germany’s hopes were slightly shaken last week with RB Leipzig’s elimination from the Champions League, Bayern Munich edged Lazio and Borussia Dortmund advanced after their 2-0 win over PSV on Wednesday night.
Freiberg got a wonderful 1-0 win over West Ham in the Europa League despite losing home and away to the Hammers in the organisation stage, while Bayer Leverkusen trailed 2-0 in Qarabag but bounced back to draw the game. and West Ham can play a hugely decisive role in the final coefficient standings.
England | Ranked: 2 | In Action: | Maximum coefficient: 23. 625
Arsenal knock out Porto, who they and Manchester City have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League, and suddenly the coefficient scenario looks much healthier.
In the Europa League, Liverpool will almost certainly advance after eliminating Sparta Prague 5-1 last week, Brighton were beaten by Roma 4-0 and will need a miracle to triumph in the round of 16.
West Ham are looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Freiburg, while in the Europa Conference League, Aston Villa are looking to bounce back from a 4-0 thrashing of Spurs when they host Ajax after drawing the first leg in Amsterdam.
France | Ranked: 1 | In Action: 2 | Maximum coefficient: 21. 250
Ligue 1 looked out of contention for one of the two most sensible spots a long time ago, but their position has been bolstered with big wins in the first leg of Marseille against Villarreal and Lille against Sturm Graz.
Paris Saint-Germain have already secured their place in the Champions League round of 16 after defeating Real Sociedad, but Lens, Stade Rennais and Toulouse have all been eliminated, most likely at least one French team will have to go all the way to the final. seal it. second position.
Spain | Qualified: | In Action: 1 | Maximum coefficient: 19. 47
Barcelona beat Napoli on Tuesday afternoon to sign Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16, while Atletico Madrid took them after eliminating Inter on penalties.
The challenge for La Liga is that Villarreal are heavily eliminated from the Europa League after losing 4-0 to Marseille last week, while their other four groups are already eliminated. The problems will probably only be in the Champions League (where they can (of course, now face each other), it would take a miracle for Spain to get an extra spot.
The Czech Republic, on the other hand, can technically still give a cry of surprise: Slavia Prague or Sparta Prague deserve to come back from their heavy defeats in the first leg against AC Milan and Liverpool respectively, while Viktoria Plzen deserves to sink very deep in the Europa League. Conference League.
Essentially, Italy has finished one of Europe’s two qualifying spots and it would take a number of calamitous effects for that to change. However, the race for second place is still open.
Premier League hopes are likely to depend on West Ham and Aston Villa on Thursday night. English teams will also hope to reach the quarter-finals when the balls are removed from the pots at Friday’s ceremony.
At the moment, Tottenham is the fifth-placed team in the Premier League and would gain advantages if England secures one of the European qualification spots.
The North Londoners, however, are just two points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with a game in hand and will be keen to win the Champions League without breaking a sweat on the coefficient. Manchester United are six points behind Spurs in sixth place and will indeed hope that fifth position becomes a Champions League position.
In Italy, resurgent Roma recently ranked fifth, largely followed by Atalanta. If the other European spot went to Germany, RB Leipzig would have gained advantages lately, even if they are only one point behind fourth-placed Dortmund.
In Ligue 1, Lille, Lens (currently fifth), Nice or even Marseille can take advantage of this, with a multitude of groups in the European mix, while Athletic Bilbao are the fifth team in La Liga by a large margin below. .
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