Manuel Pellegrini, head coach of Manchester City, insists reaching the last eight of the UCL is vital for their progression.
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Spain, Germany and England each hold four Champions League slots, but Italy’s Serie A had been hoping to overhaul the Premier League in UEFA’s coefficient tankings system.
UEFA officials came to this conclusion following Juventus’ exit from the competition as the Italian side slumped to a 4-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the second leg of the round-of-16 fixture.
The Premier League now can not lose their fourth Champions League spot for the 2017/18 season following Juventus’ exit from Europe. However, should Lazio win the Europa League they will only accrue 2.5 points.
Before Juve’s defeat, Serie A had a slim chance of overhauling the Premier League’s UEFA coefficient ranking.
Italian clubs needed to again perform to a similar standard, with Premier League clubs underperforming, to overtake England.
England now have the opportunity of building up a bigger cushion to protect themselves from Italy’s push for a fourth Champions League spot. That essentially neutralised any effect from Southampton and West Ham both failing to make the group stage of the same competition.
England have now extended their lead over Italy by 0.875 points, but with the scores taken over a five-year run, under-performance next season could be detrimental for the 2018/19 season.
It could be a very different story next season, however.
The Champions League is likely to feature Leicester for the first time next season.
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For the Blues, this means that the route to a Champions League return is simple.win enough matches to finish in the top four, making it just a one-year absence from the competition.
