Thanks to the very good evening of French clubs in the Europa League and Europa Conference League, Franca has returned to the level of the Netherlands in the fight for 5th place in the UEFA index.
The week of the French clubs had started badly. Consequence of the defeats of PSG against AC Milan and especially RC Lens on the pitch of PSV Eindhoven. An inevitably unwelcome setback as France and the Netherlands compete for fifth place in the UEFA index, which now allows them to have four representatives in the Champions League.
But Thursday evening was much more profitable for French football. Because if Lille had to settle for a draw on the pitch of Slovan Bratislava (1-1), Olympique de Marseille won in the den of AEK Athens (0-2), Rennes dominated Panathinaikos (3-1) after playing for an hour outnumbered and Toulouse achieved a real feat by winning against Liverpool (3-2). And the evening was all the more successful as at the same time, the two Dutch clubs, Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar, both lost, respectively against Brighton (0-2) and Aston Villa (2-1).
All French clubs in the race for qualification
And with its results, France has almost caught up with the Netherlands. The gap is in fact only 0.003 units and France should therefore seize this precious fifth place on the next day. At least, if the French clubs continue their successful campaign.
While Ajax and AZ Alkmaar, last in their group, are on the verge of elimination, all French representatives can get out of the groups. Rennes, Lille and Marseille are at the head of their group, and Toulouse is in a strong position to support Liverpool. And in the Champions League, while PSG still occupies second place in its group despite the defeat, RC Lens is currently third, which would at least allow it to continue in the Europa League.
