The good results of French clubs on Thursday allowed France to virtually take fifth place in the IUEFA index.
Officially, France saw the Netherlands regain the lead in the UEFA index. Consequence of a black Wednesday in the Champions League. The day after the draw conceded by PSG against Newcastle, Lens saw its dreams of qualification disappear by sinking on the Arsenal pitch (6-0), PSV Eindhoven validating its ticket by overthrowing Sevilla FC . To the two points linked to the victory are added for the Dutch club the five bonus points linked to accession to the round of 16 (to be divided by five, i.e. the number of clubs entered at the start of the season). Enough to allow the Netherlands to widen the gap despite the good results recorded by the French clubs this Thursday.
Thanks to the three victories of Lille in Ljubjana (0-2), Rennes against Maccabi Haifa (0-2) and Olympique de Marseille against Ajax Amsterdan (4-3) and the draw of Toulouse against Saint-Gilles, France has plenty of points and the best is yet to come. Because Rennes, Lille and Marseille are already guaranteed to continue the adventure at the end of winter, which ensures big bonus points. It remains to be seen whether the three clubs mentioned will finish at the top of their group and therefore advance directly to the round of 16 or will have to go through the play-offs.
The best yet to come?
At a minimum, five points will be added to France’s purse (to be divided by six, i.e. the number of clubs involved), which already virtually allows it to overtake the Netherlands. In total, Thursday’s clubs gained 2,000 points in the UEFA index compared to 0.400 for the Dutch side and France has virtually 59,694 points compared to 59,300 for the Netherlands. And the best is yet to come.
Because the last day could be just as good. Because to the possible new bonuses that OM, Rennes and Lille could obtain in the event of direct qualification for the round of 16, PSG’s qualification for the Champions League and that of Toulouse for the Europa League play-offs could be added.
On the Dutch side, if PSV Eindhoven has already booked its ticket for the rest of the Champions League, Feyenoord will certainly have to settle for the Europa League in February, Ajax cannot hope for better than the League Europa Conference by dominating AEK Athens and AZ Alkmaar, who were content with the minimum against ZRinji Mostar on Thursday, will have to win by two goals in Warsaw to continue the adventure in the Europa Conference League.
