HNA? witness to history --plenty to like there.
Right kids, with the last international break of the league campaigns behind us and the run-in set to go uninterrupted, I figured this'd be as good a time as any for a look at the situation in the big leagues on the continent.
As I'm sure that most must know by now, the Intertoto and UEFA Cups as we've come to know them will no longer exist from next season, and in their stead is this Europa League thing that combines the two, adds a series of qualifying rounds over the summer and then boils it down to a knockout round over two legs from which 12 groups of four emerge --out of which the top two in each join the Champions League third-place finishers in group play to make the final 32, who are paired off in a two-legged knockout format of the like now familiar to us all.
The problem I'm having is getting decent information with respect to who gets in --how many places per country, more or less. I do believe that lower-division cup runners-up no longer get to play on in international club competitions in the event that the cup winner is already qualified via league position; from now on, the spot goes to the next placed side in the top league.
So with these caveats in mind, here's where we stand...
SPAIN --10 games remaining
Barcelona have been a topic of interest in this and other GF threads, and it's down to
Real Madrid and themselves for the title after the former suffered a recent wobble. Six points separate them, and I just don't see Barca pissing away the title; the two are set to square off over the weekend of 2nd/3rd May.
Sevilla are a solid if distant third --for which an automatic entry into the Champions League group stage would be their reward-- currently 15 points adrift of Barca and 9 back of Real, and they enjoy a six-point edge over
Villarreal in fourth. Six points behind the latter stand four sides battling for the two available Europa League spots, each of them now on 43 points:
Atletico,
Valencia,
Deportivo and
Malaga, with
Valladolid four points behind that pack.
At the bottom end,
EspanYol --who seem to alternate seasons chasing continental rewards and relegation-- are sat bottom, eight points from safety and in need of something heroic to beat the drop. As for the rest, all eleven sides not named above as pursuers of UEFA club rewards for next season could be said to be in a relegation battle, with
Santander and
Gijon heading up the trailing pack on 33 points apiece --just four points clear of
Osasuna, who stand in 18th three points better than
Numancia.
Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona are this year's Copa del Rey finalists.
ITALY --9 games remaining
Inter would appear to have another scudetto just about in the bag, with
Juventus seven points behind them and just about the only ones capable of keeping it interesting as the wire draws ever closer.
Milan are third, trailing Juve by an identical seven points and four points better than
Genoa as they seek to hold on and thereby gain automatic entry into the Champions League group stage.
Also in the hunt for fourth are
Fiorentina on 49 points and
Roma on 46. Challenging those two for fifth and sixth are
Cagliari,
Palermo,
Lazio and
Atalanta.
Behind them is a four-pack of mid-tablers with not much hope of getting in on the UEFA scramble but not a lot in the way of relegation worries, either. Bringing up the rear are
Reggina on 20 points and six clear of safety, with
Torino and
Lecce both four points better. Bologna are holding on in 17th with 26 points, and also casting wary glances over their shoulders are
Siena and
Chievo on 31 and 30, respectively.
Sampdoria and Lazio will meet in the Coppa Italia final.
GERMANY --9 games left
Hertha Berlin top the Bundesliga table on 49 points, and the fun only begins there as each of
Bayern,
Wolfsburg and
Hamburg stand a point behind the leaders in pursuit of the title, with a top-two finish granting automatic qualification for next season's Champions League group stage and third place good enough for the third qualifying round of the Champions League; Europa League places are consolation for those finishing in fourth and fifth.
Currently fifth and four points back of the chasing pack are
Hoffenheim, themselves two points better than
Stuttgart. Familiar names comprising the upper middle portion of the table are
Leverkusen on 38 points,
Schalke and
Dortmund on 37 each and both
Werder Bremen and
Cologne on 32 and ten points clear of the drop.
The German Cup is now at the semifinal stage, with Leverkusen, Hamburg, Werder and second division
Mainz still in the game.
Relegation worries for
Eintracht Frankfurt and
Hannover on 26 apiece and four points clear of
Monchengladbach in 16th.
Bochum and
Arminia Bielefeld are in between on 25 and 24 points, respectively; behind 'Gladbach in the relegation places are
Cottbus on 20 and basement side
Karlsruhe three points father back.
FRANCE --9 games left
Lyon, topping the table on 55 points and in pursuit of their eight consecutive title in Ligue 1, are a point better than
Marseille as they enter the home stretch. Also making a run at a top-two finish are Bordeaux on 53, and behind them follow the three-pack of
Toulouse,
Lille and
PSG on 52 points each;
Rennes on 48 are the only other side that reasonably might be expected to make a run at the current top six.
Semifinalists in the Coupe de France are Toulouse,
Rennes,
Grenoble and second division side
Guingamp, and Bordeaux are set to meet Ligue 2 side
Vannes in the final of the Coupe de La Ligue.
At the bottom,
Le Havre are toast on 18 points, eleven short of safety. Any two of the bottom dozen sides in the table could join them in Ligue 2 next season, with
Caen currently 19th on 27 points,
Sochaux and
St-Etienne on 29 each and both
Nancy and
Nantes a point in front of those two. A grandstand finish at both ends is shaping up nicely in France.
NETHERLANDS --6 games left
As noted previously in this thread,
AZ are well poised to claim the club's second Eredivisie crown, needing just 10 points from their remaining six games to finish in front of second-placed
Twente. Also as noted,
PSV are arithmetically eliminated from title contention after winning the last four.
The Dutch have changed their qualification regime for UEFA competitions --in short, the champions go to the Champions League group stage with the runners up claiming a spot in the third qualifying round; third and fourth go to the Europa League, and fifth thru eighth play off for a last Europa League berth.
At the relegation end of things...eh, it's Holland, so never mind. Dutch Cup semifinalists are Twente,
Volendam,
NAC and
Heerenveen.
If anybody'd care to take on the situation in lesser national leagues or the promotion picture in the second divisions, well, it's an open thread, and we're all about spreadin' the knowLOLedge...
).
