La Liga close gap on Serie A in race in for 5th Champions League spot | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s victory over Manchester City in midweek might have seen celebrations from Madridistas all over Spain, but fans of Villarreal might also have appreciated Los Blancos result in the Champions League. The progress of the other Spanish sides in Europe could well see La Liga receive an extra Champions League spot next season.

As things stand, La Liga receive four Champions League spots, one Europa League spot and one Conference League spot, with a further Europa League place for the winners of the Copa del Rey. With Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona all likely to qualify for the Champions League as it is, there is also a good chance that the Copa spot ends up going to the 6th place in La Liga, and the Conference to the 7th spot. Real Sociedad, the other side in the semi-finals, are currently 7th, four points off 6th.

La Liga could receive a fifth Champions League spot next season though, as pointed out by ESPN. The Premier League currently tops the UEFA coefficient table, with the two top countries receiving an extra Champions League spot. That went to Serie A last season, and Italy are narrowly above La Liga as things stand, with just 98 points between the two in 2nd and third. Germany are now more than 2,000 points further back, as are Portugal in 5th.

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Spain still have six of their seven sides in Europe, while Italy have seven out of eight remaining. However AC Milan and Atalanta both lost in the play-off round of the Champions League, while AS Roma have a clash against Porto in the Europa League.

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La Liga have Real Madrid as the only side in the Champions League play-off, well placed to go through with Manchester City. Real Sociedad now face FC Midtjylland in the Europa League, and Real Betis have clash against Gent in the Conference League. La Real and Los Verdiblancos could well define the La Liga placing, and as a result, potentially affect their qualification for next season.