Spain, Germany and Italy are fighting for second place by 20 hundredths of a point: however their rivals have more clubs in the running
What is surprising, with only four teams out of seven having survived the playoff hurdle, is that Italy is totally in the running in the UEFA seasonal rankings. But is it really like this or just an illusion?
the fantastic four
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The ranking is starting to take shape, the medium and small nations lose ground in the long run, Portugal drops and the big four are back up there. As always. England are in a competition of their own: with a contingent of six teams in the Champions League and an unattainable coefficient, almost 23 points, they have already taken a slot. Everything is still open for second place: Germany, Spain and Italy, for now in this order, are within the space of twenty cents. Nothing. Let’s see how long the balance will last.
fewer teams
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The prospects are not exciting. Meanwhile, the points “weigh” differently: a Champions League club can bring up to 48 to its nation, in the Europa League the maximum is 40, in the Conference 32. Right, because the value of the cups is certainly not the same. In the Champions League we only have Atalanta, while Spain is represented by the big three (Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico) and even Germany surpasses us (Bayern and Leverkusen). In the Europa League we have two (Roma and Bologna), in the Conference Fiorentina did it with several thrills. In theory our chances are reduced because we can score fewer points: just as Poland and Portugal have moved further away going forward, now the same could happen to our clubs. Of course, winning all the matches and all the cups would change the situation, but a healthy realism doesn’t hurt to avoid being disappointed.
central objective
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The UEFA seasonal ranking – the calculation of the results in the cups in progress – is now one of everyone’s objectives: with the tournament reform, in fact, the two championships with the best performance qualify one more team for the next Champions League. An incredible boost for a championship: Serie A, good or bad this year, will make at least three teams outside the Champions League cry bitterly (today they would be Juve, Atalanta and Como). If fifth place were as good as second it would be a turning point, like two years ago.
absolute ranking
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The fourth place in the current season – with Portugal, Poland and France currently far behind – also reassures the absolute UEFA ranking, the one that calculates the performance of the last five years and defines the number of places per nation. The top four in the standings qualify at least four clubs: England, Italy, Spain and Germany, of course. We are second with a notable advantage over the fifth nation: +18 over France. At the moment, in short, this is the least of the problems.
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