This week's Champions League matches allowed Portugal to gain some valuable points in their competition with the Netherlands in the UEFA rankings.
The bar was very high. Obviously too much for Benfica, stifled by Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena (1-0), but not enough for Sporting who achieved a historic feat on their home pitch against Manchester City (4-1). Through these two performances, and in particular the victory of the Lions in Lisbon, Portugal was able to regain ground on the Netherlands in view of the UEFA ranking.
Portugal takes points in the UEFA rankings
They did it. Far from being favorites, facing one of the strongest teams on the European continent, Ruben Amorim's men managed to defy all predictions by inflicting a real correction on Manchester City this Tuesday. A great victory which places the Leões in excellent conditions to try to validate qualification for the next round of the Champions League, and which also allows Portugal to assert itself as an ever more imposing threat in the UEFA rankings.
Indeed, Sporting's victory this Tuesday evening brought no less than 2 points to Portugal. Points that must then be divided by five, i.e. the number of Portuguese clubs involved in European competitions at the start of the season, to obtain a real advance of 0.400 points in the ranking. From now on, the Portuguese nation has a total of 54,616 points in the ranking.
Sixth place goal continues
An increasingly clear vision of sixth place. For the moment, Portugal is in seventh position in this ranking, but can consider returning to its main competitor, the Netherlands. For their part, the Dutch clubs also took advantage of this European week to obtain a few points, thanks in particular to PSV's large victory against Girona in the Champions League (4-0). However, this single Dutch victory at the start of the week brought only 0.333 points to the Netherlands, given the greater number of Eredivisie teams involved in European competitions this season (6, compared to 5 for Portugal).
A great operation for Portugal within this ranking. Still seventh, Portugal therefore has 54.616 points, against 57.733 for the Dutch, after PSV's recent victory. The existing gap between the two competing nations has thus been reduced in recent hours. While it was set at 3.184 points at the start of the week, the gap is now 3.117 points in the ranking, pending the matches of the two other European competitions.
A calmer weekend?
The tide seems to have passed for Portuguese clubs, forced to face two of Europe's biggest teams in the Champions League. The rest of the events promise to be slightly calmer, with three other European meetings planned for this Thursday evening.
This European evening will begin with a trip from SC Braga to Elfsborg in the Europa League (6:45 p.m.), before a clash between Lazio and FC Porto on Roman soil, for the same competition (9:00 p.m.). At the same time, Vitoria will face Mlada Boleslav in the north of Portugal, hoping to continue their very good start to the season in the Europa Conference League.
In the opposite camp, the Dutch will also have three matches to play. In the Europa League, the Twente club will travel to the south of France to face Nice, from 6:45 p.m. A few hours later, Ajax will host Maccabi Tel Aviv, while AZ will host the Fenerbahçe club, managed by a certain José Mourinho.
For the moment, Portugal advantage. It remains to be seen whether through this Thursday's matches, the Portuguese nation will manage to emerge victorious from its remote duel with the Netherlands, with a view to this hotly contested UEFA ranking.
Photo credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Alexandre Ribeiro launched the Trivela.fr site in 2019 and today runs it alongside his colleagues. Passionate about Portuguese football as a whole, and in particular the Portuguese national team, it is with all his energy and involvement that he brings this media to life on a daily basis.
