The Champions League group stage is over, and La Liga is the big winner, with five teams participating, with the exception of Sevilla, the remaining four teams are all top of the group. Both the Bundesliga and Serie A have three teams qualified for the tournament, with only Manchester City and Arsenal topping the group in the Premier League. In addition, Ligue 1, Eredivisie, Portuguese Super League and Denmark each have one team in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
In recent years, the Premier League has once again grabbed the reputation of the first European league from La Liga, far ahead of La Liga, which is in second place in the Europa League points, and even from the current score, La Liga cannot surpass the Premier League even if it does not count the points of this season. However, in the just-concluded Champions League group stage, the Premier League ushered in a big defeat.
Not only did Manchester United and Newcastle fail to qualify, but they also finished bottom of the group and did not even qualify for the Europa League. The last time two teams were knocked out of the Premier League was 11 years ago, when Manchester City and Chelsea did not finish in the top two. It is worth mentioning that Manchester City, which was a "fledgling" that year, showed its final immaturity, and was able to enter the Champions League knockout round every season since.
In the Champions League in the past five years, only five Premier League teams have had a chance to appear, including Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham. All four teams have reached the final and have progressed from the group whenever they compete, with only Manchester United having the fewest appearances and one group exit.
It can be seen that the Premier League can surpass La Liga, and the "credit" of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea is considerable, and the outstanding performance of the three teams ensures that the Premier League becomes a very competitive league in Europe. In the past, England legend Alan Hansen once commented on Ferguson's 92 generation, relying on a group of children and getting nothing. Now, this sentence can be changed, relying on Manchester United, the Premier League will get nothing in the Champions League.
This season, Arsenal are back in the Champions League after a seven-year absence, Newcastle are even longer, after 20 years away, and Manchester United are back after a year. However, only Arsenal have maintained their good performances, while Manchester United and Newcastle have faced the embarrassment of finishing bottom of the group.
Newcastle have been away for too long, have been left in Pot 4 and have fallen into a very difficult group and have not been able to qualify. However, since the draw, Manchester United seem to be the inevitable choice to qualify from this group, and some fans have even joked that it will be a shame if Ten Hag does not qualify, please take Antony with him. Unexpectedly, Copenhagen, which is considered a big gift package, has become the team that follows Bayern to advance, and Manchester United is the big gift package in reality!
Without Liverpool and Chelsea, the Premier League has suddenly become a thin league in the Champions League, leaving Manchester City as a strong contender for the title. Arsenal, on the other hand, has reached the round of 16 seven times in a row, and needs to work hard to take off the hat of "Champions League Sixteen" as soon as possible.
What's more, next season's Champions League rules will be changed, and the two leagues with the best results this season can get an additional place in the competition. It's just that Manchester United and Newcastle have not even qualified for the Europa League and have completely lost the opportunity to continue to earn points. Although in addition to Manchester City and Arsenal, there are four other teams that have already qualified from the Europa League or Europa League group ahead of schedule. However, these two cup competitions, due to the lack of Champions League bonus points, if you want to get more points, you need to enter the final four to be competitive.
So, unless there are multiple Premier League teams in the last four in the Europa League and Europa League, the chances of the Premier League being the best two leagues of the season are quite slim. In other words, with Manchester United and Newcastle both bottom of the group, it will be difficult for fifth place in the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League. If Manchester United or Newcastle end up finishing fifth in the Premier League and missing out on the Champions League, they will have to blame themselves for not working hard enough.