Four English teams out – is fifth in the Champions League still a possibility?

England

Although four teams are eliminated this week, the Premier League is certain to gain an extra place.

England (23.847) already has an almost identical coefficient score to the country that finished second last season (Spain, 23.892).

Nothing should be taken entirely for granted, as England looked destined for a place in the Premier League in 2023-24 but suffered a horrific run of results in the quarter-finals.

But it will take another very bad night on Thursday for there to be any real danger.

It also helps that Bayern Munich face Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, meaning one of England’s closest rivals will lose a team. Barcelona must also face Atletico Madrid.

As an illustration of England’s progress, the German and Spanish teams are actually 18 wins behind. The Italian League can no longer catch up with the English Premier League.

Spain

La Liga is in second place and now has more teams in Europe (six) than any other league.

It will be a close fight because each win has less value to the coefficient than Germany.

The Champions League meeting between Bayern and Real Madrid could be decisive in the race.

Spain will also be affected by how its teams meet each other.

Atletico and Barcelona are scheduled to meet in the Champions League quarter-finals.

In the Europa League, they will face Celta Vigo and Real Betis in the semi-finals.

Germany

Only Bayern Munich remains active in the Champions League, and will need a strong turnaround in results on Thursday.

Of the three German teams participating in the Europa League and Conference League, none went into the second leg superior. They all need positive results to be able to challenge Spain.

Portugal

It seemed that Portugal’s chances of finishing in the top two were effectively over when Santa Clara crashed out of the conference league in the qualifying rounds.

But three of their four remaining teams are still active.

However, to be in contention for second place, everyone has to dig a lot deeper.

Italy

Serie A has lost four of its seven teams and now has little chance of finishing second.

Bologna and Roma face each other in the round of 16 of the Europa League, so another team will be eliminated.

At least Fiorentina won the conference league.

France

It has been a disappointing season for Ligue 1 teams, starting with Nice’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.

Things were not much better for Nice, as they were at the time It was eliminated from the Europa League.

France still has four active teams but it seems unlikely they will be able to close the gap.

Poland

It will be a surprise to many to find Poland so high up in the standings, they have been in the top two for a while. But Poland no longer has a realistic chance.

All four teams in the country played in the conference league, while more than a third of their coefficient points were obtained in the qualifying rounds.

It would take both teams to win every remaining match.

No other country has a mathematical chance of reaching top two.