It has been a positive start to the league phase for Celtic and Rangers – but much more is required
It has been a flying start for Scottish clubs to the group stage of the revamped European league phases – but we are still a long way off the Premiership winners automatically regaining their Champions League spot.
And things could get even worse for Scottish clubs in Europe’s elite competition after the Czech Republic punted our nation from the top 10 last season. The drop has only got longer this term with a whopping 9.75 points falling through UEFA’s trap door and out of our five-year tally at the start of the latest European campaign.
The 2019/20 campaign will no longer be counted toward the overall total – with Celtic and Rangers both racking up a mammoth number of points in that campaign. Celtic dropped into the Europa League from the Champions League playoffs – before reaching the last 32 in Europe’s second tier competition and collecting 16.5 points for the coefficient. Rangers would also find success in the Europa League – navigating the group stage and reaching the last 16 to add 18 points to the pot.
But with that now missing, Scotland have plummeted to 17th in the coefficient table. That is despite Celtic getting off to a winning start in the Champions League against Slovan Bratislava – with 8 points already added to the pot by Brendan Rodgers’ side. Despite defeat in the Champions League play-off round to Dynamo Kyiv, the first leg draw with the Ukrainian champions coupled with the win over Malmo in the Europa League means Philippe Clement has helped add 2.5 points so far.
Kilmarnock and St Mirren added 2.5 and 2 points in their failed bid to reach the league phase of the Europa League and Conference League. Hearts will look to add to the pot when they face Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League next week having chipped in with zero so far after failing to pick up a win or a draw in the Europa League playoff rounds.
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