Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen faces Roma this Thursday, in the second game of the Europa League semi-final. If the Germans advance to the European competition, they will pass Barcelona in the UEFA rankings, leaving the Spanish club out of pot 1 in the draw for the next Champions League.
In the next edition of the Champions League, the tournament’s draw and dispute system will be completely different. Until the current season, pot one in the group stage draw included the champions of the main European leagues, alongside the current winner of the Champions League and Europa League. Now, the nine seeded groups will be decided exclusively by the UEFA rankings, which take into account the clubs’ performances in European tournaments in recent years.
With Barça’s recent poor performance in the Champions League and Europa League, the Spanish club is only 12th in the UEFA rankings. The advantage of Xavi and his team is that three clubs ahead of them on the European confederation list still do not have a defined participation in the next edition of the Champions League: Manchester United, Chelsea and Roma.
At this moment, Barcelona is precisely the ninth and last team to be included in pot one for the draw for next season’s Champions League. However, if Leverkusen wins this Thursday’s second leg against Roma in the Europa League, they will tie with Barcelona in terms of points in the UEFA rankings.
Another option for Barcelona to stay out of pot one is if Roma qualifies for the Champions League, either through the Italian Championship or the Europa League. The Italians are ahead of the Spanish on the UEFA list and would be another club in pot one.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
