The Round of 16 of the Champions League began this week, and despite the Premier League’s early dominance in the competition, the English side were unable to pick up a win in the first leg.
No English club has ever won the Champions League (Image: Burak Basturk/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
6 matches, 0 wins. It was a disappointing story for English clubs competing in this week’s Champions League.
Newcastle and Arsenal drew 1-1 with Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen respectively, but that was fine. Liverpool lost 1-0 to Galatasaray, while Tottenham lost 5-2 to Atletico Madrid.
On Wednesday, Chelsea lost to Paris Saint-Germain by the same scoreline, while Manchester City lost 3-0 to Real Madrid. The disastrous result has left supporters of clubs competing to qualify for next season’s Champions League, including Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, questioning whether fifth place is good enough.
Under UEFA rules, the two countries with the best results in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League will be given an additional spot in Europe’s top competition in their domestic leagues. Newcastle benefited from this last season, with Chelsea currently on track to finish the season in fifth place.
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The good news is that as of March 11, England still have a comfortable lead at the top of the table. England are the only country to have all their teams (nine) reach the last 16 in each of the three competitions.
Their score of 22.513 is significantly higher than Spain’s 18.031 and Germany’s 18.000. However, a poor result in which the team is eliminated next week could cause England’s ranking to plummet.
This would happen in the 2023-24 season, with England looking set to earn an extra spot before being eliminated at the quarter-final stage. However, it will take a huge effort from clubs in Spain, Germany and Italy to dislodge England from the top two.
How many English clubs will reach the Champions League quarter-finals? Tell us your predictions in the comments section.
Germany trails Spain in second place (Image: Marco BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Draws in all three tournaments helped Germany the most. All four teams in the Champions League and Europa League were placed in opposite positions and did not meet until the final.
This is different from Spain, where Barcelona could face Atlético in the Champions League quarter-finals. And in the semi-finals of the Europa League, Celta Vigo could face Real Betis.
UEFA coefficient table (March 11)
England – 22.513 Spain – 18.031 Germany – 18.000 Italy – 17.357 Portugal – 16.600 France – 15.250 Poland – 15.250 Greece – 12.900 Cyprus – 11.906 Denmark – 11.750
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