Aston Villa help out, but Sporting still need more to enter Champions | OneFootball

Sporting moved closer to securing direct entry into the Champions League after Aston Villa won the Europa League last Wednesday. Unai Emery’s side thus fulfilled the first of the two necessary conditions to help the Lions avoid the competition’s qualifying rounds.

Now, Aston Villa only need to finish the Premier League in fourth place, the position they currently occupy going into the final matchday. The Birmingham side have three more points than Liverpool and depend only on themselves to hold on to the spot.

The calculations are simple for Rui Borges’ team. Sporting will go straight into the Champions League league phase if Aston Villa take at least a point against Manchester City. Even in the event of defeat, the English side can still keep fourth place if Liverpool fail to beat Brentford at Anfield.

There is only one scenario that would force the Lions to play in the third qualifying round: an Aston Villa defeat combined with a Liverpool win. In that case, the Reds would overtake Villa due to their head-to-head advantage, and Sporting would be pushed into the competition’s preliminary rounds.

If they do have to go through qualification, Sporting will be seeded in both the third qualifying round and the play-off. Possible opponents include Sparta Prague, NEC Nijmegen and Fenerbahçe — or the club that eliminates the Turkish side in the previous round, a scenario that could involve Heart of Midlothian, Sturm Graz or the Polish runners-up.

Another likely opponent would be Union Saint-Gilloise, currently second in Belgium. In a possible play-off, the green-and-whites should avoid Lyon, unless Club Brugge lose the Belgian title.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.