MANCHESTER UNITED’S Champions League exit is bad news for all of England’s clubs – and it could potentially get worse.
Erik ten Hag’s side are out of Europe completely after they were beaten 1-0 by Bayern Munich at Old Trafford tonight.
AFPKingsley Coman dumped Man Utd out of Europe completely with his strike[/caption]
ReutersAnd Man Utd’s European exit is bad news for the rest of the Prem[/caption]
That result left them bottom of Group A, with FC Copenhagen ending it second while Galatasaray finished third to drop down into the Europa League.
And if Newcastle join them tomorrow by failing to make it out of the group stage when they face AC Milan then the Premier League is at serious risk of missing out on an extra Champions League place next season.
The group stages will change next term due to the introduction of a “Swiss-style” format, with four additional teams being added to take the number of clubs competing to 36.
Uefa will award two of the extra four places to the countries who have collectively performed best in Europe during the previous season.
That is worked out by Uefa’s association club coefficient table and an average score being produced by dividing the total number of points won throughout the year by the number of its clubs that were involved.
Points are awarded by Uefa for wins in the group stage and participation in the round of 16.
If this was applied last season, then England would have finished in the top two along with the Netherlands as the Premier League’s coefficient was boosted by Manchester City lifting the Champions League and West Ham’s Europa Conference League success.
There were eight Prem teams competing in Europe during this season – but United’s exit and Newcastle’s potential elimination could hit England’s association club coefficient average.
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England currently sit fourth in the table behind Germany, Spain and Italy.
English clubs would usually gain more points due to their results in the knockouts – but we are now already one team down.
That means the Premier League’s top clubs will now be desperate for Newcastle to beat Milan in their must-win showdown on Wednesday and hope Paris Saint-Germain either draw or lose at already-qualified Borussia Dortmund in order for Eddie Howe’s men to go through.
But a defeat could see Newcastle finish rock bottom of their group and go out of Europe completely – which would cause an even greater hit to the coefficient.
Newcastle will go into the Europa League with a draw against Milan.
But, unfortunately, both wins for clubs in England and Spain are worth slightly less to their coefficient due to them starting with more teams in Europe than any other country – which only makes their clubs progressing even more important.
However, the Premier League’s coefficient for this season should be boosted by the teams already through.
Both Arsenal and Man City are already looking ahead to the knockouts having already been confirmed as their respective group winners.
GettyThe premier League’s top clubs will be urging on Newcastle against AC Milan[/caption]
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