As it stands, across Europes top leagues, the favourites in most leagues are falling behind the Champions League spaces, leaving the spots for qualification to the Europa League full of some of the best teams in the continent! 5th, 6th and 7th all stand a chance of the Europa League group stage in most of the top leagues.
Last night, newly de-throned Italian giants Juventus lost 3-0 against a resurgent AC Milan side, who are pushing for the Champions League spaces themselves. That leaves The Old Lady in 5th in Serie A, with only 3 games to go. to qualify for the Champions League now, they need either Milan, Atalanta or Napoli to drop points in the remaining fixtures.
In England, West Ham are looking like dark horses for the Champions League, which means that at least 1 of the favourites before the season will likely miss out. At the time of writing, Liverpool look the most likely to miss out, which could mean players like Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk would be playing in the Europa League next season!
Everton could also qualify for the second competition in Europe still, although it seems unlikely, but the blue half of merseyside sit only 3 points off West Ham in 5th, and 2 points off rivals Liverpool. Imagine Carlo Ancellotti’s Everton side play Liverpool for a place in the final!
In France, possibly the most exciting title race has left all four of the frontrunners battling it out for not just the title, but also the champions league spaces, with PSG only 3 points ahead of current 4th placed side Lyon, meaning the reigning champions could end up in the Europa League as well!
Whilst the Bundesliga is pretty much wrapped up, with Frankfurt looking likely to get the Europa League spot, the La Liga looks like an interesting title race, without much to play for other than that. Real Sociedad and Villarreal look like the spots are theirs, but if Villarreal beat Manchester United in the final of this seasons competition, another Spanish side could qualify.
So, we could be seeing Juventus, PSG, Liverpool, Tottenham, Villarreal, West Ham, Lazio and Borrussia Dortmund all in just the group stages of the Europa League! No one can deny that would be exciting, especially with the rebuilds these teams will have to go through should they miss out on the Champions League!
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Sam Hutchison
