Will There Be Five Champions League Places? Could Liverpool Miss Out? | OneFootball

Delivering an unexpected Premier League title in his first season and then being backed to the tune of around £400 million in the summer transfer window, signing top players; Liverpool manager, Arne Slot must have been really looking forward to this season.

Fast forward almost eight months and this is almost redundant. A poor first half of the campaign saw them struggling to maintain even a Europa League place, though they have since battled back. The fight for fourth place is on. Retaining their title would take a miracle.

Liverpool fans, though, are no strangers to witnessing ‘miracles’. Especially where Europe is concerned. In 2004/05, they were a breath away from being dumped out of the Champions League, until a Steven Gerrard rocket rallied them against Olympiakos.

A ‘ghost goal’ by Luis Garcia at Anfield against Chelsea saw them face AC Milan in arguably one of the best ever Champions League Finals. Down 3-0 at half-time in Istanbul, fans had essentially given up. Captain Gerrard had other plans and almost single-handedly steered the Reds back into the game, which saw them win on penalties.

That season, they finished fifth in the Premier League; outside of a Champions League places, though there was no ruling for this scenario. Ultimately the club was granted the right to defend their title, albeit starting in the First Qualifying Round, meaning they had to play six matches just to reach the Group Stage.

Fifth Place Spot Looks Likely For Premier League Next Season

There were understood to be question marks over whether the English top flight would get five Champions League places for this season, though in the coefficient rankings, England commands a healthy lead over both Spain and Germany in second and third place respectively.

Although Manchester City, Chelsea and Newcastle United were all eliminated at the Last 16 stage, both Liverpool and Arsenal have progressed to the quarter-finals, finishing third and first respectively in the group table.

Based on both of these circumstances, it is likely that England will still have five teams in the Champions League next season; good news for Liverpool. While there will be a challenge, fifth place; even possibly fourth place (if results go their way), is achievable.

The Dream Scenario

As we have seen before, the Reds have a habit of pulling rabbits out of hats when no one else expects them to. In 2019, they were 3-0 down at the semi-final stage against a rampant Barcelona side, with a place in the final looking unlikely. We’re used to seeing special Champions League nights at Anfield and Liverpool duly delivered beating a rattled Barca 4-3 on aggregate, before going on to beat Tottenham 2-0 in the final.

While the pressure of knowing they needed to win the Champions League to qualify for the next season’s competition would likely be unwanted, because they end up finishing sixth, probably every Liverpool fan in the land would take this. Undoubtedly, finishing fifth (or higher) and winning the competition would be a lot less stressful!