Tottenham have suffered a potential new blow in their pursuit of Champions League football next season after official confirmation that the Premier League will not receive a fifth slot in the expanded competition.
Borussia Dortmund’s thrilling victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the home first leg of their semi-final tie on Wednesday night sealed a coveted extra spot in Europe’s elite club competition for next term for Germany’s Bundesliga.
If they do not win the Champions League this season for the first time since 1997, then the main beneficiaries of that extra place look set to be Dortmund, who currently sit fifth in the Bundesliga table with only three matches left to play in 2023/24 - five points behind RB Leipzig in third after last weekend’s heavy 4-1 loss and 12 clear of sixth-place Eintracht Frankfurt.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will now know for definite that they must finish in the top four in order to seal a return to the top table of European football next term.
Back-to-back defeats by Newcastle and fierce rivals Arsenal have seen fifth-place Spurs fall seven points behind Aston Villa in a two-horse race for fourth, though Ange Postecoglou’s side do crucially boast two games in hand on their rivals - the first of which comes on Thursday night against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Topping the coefficient table, Italy already had an extra Champions League slot for next season wrapped up as Uefa controversially revamp the format and increase the number of teams participating from 32 to 36.
Roma currently sit fifth in Serie A, four points behind Bologna and two ahead of Atalanta, who face Marseille in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. The winners of that competition qualify directly for the Champions League.
