THE Premier League’s fourth-placed team could miss out on a Champions League spot next season.
But such an £80million-plus hit for a Prem giant would need a chain of events as unusual as, say, Liverpool losing home league games to Burnley and Brighton in the same week…
Jurgen Klopp would be fuming if his Liverpool side missed out on a Champions League spot for next seasonCredit: Tom Jenkins/ The Guardian
Only five teams from any country can compete in the Champions League in the same campaign.
So Prem representation for the following season would first be threatened if English clubs won the Champions League AND the Europa League in one term.
That’s because the winners of those two tournaments automatically qualify for the Champions League.
But it would still need a far more unlikely outcome for the Prem to be reduced to only three entrants in Europe’s top club competition.
The Champions League and Europa League victors would both have to finish outside the Prem top three.
As it stands, Manchester City lead the Prem ahead of their Champions League last-16 clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach.
And Liverpool are fourth, in the same month they face RB Leipzig.
England’s other Champions League survivors are sixth-placed Chelsea, whose new manager Thomas Tuchel has inherited a tough Euro challenge against LaLiga pacesetters Atletico Madrid.
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Meanwhile, Arsenal are nine points adrift of fourth spot as they prepare for a Europa League last-32 clash with Benfica.
It all means the possibility of the Prem losing a Champions League place for 2021-22 can’t quite be ignored – not yet, anyway.
And it’s is another reason why this season’s title chase seems more exciting than most, especially as Leicester in third spot are breaking up the so-called big boys.
Liverpool’s clash with RB Leipzig cannot be held in Germany over new coronavirus rules
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
