the consequences of a catastrophic week for Portugal

This week, the four Portuguese clubs involved in European competitions lost, allowing the Netherlands to widen the gap in the UEFA rankings.

It was simply impossible to do worse. This week, Portuguese clubs posted a catastrophic record on the European scene, with no less than four defeats in as many matches. A disastrous week which has serious consequences for the UEFA rankings.

A blank week for Portugal

Four games, four losses. An unprecedented assessment for the Portuguese, which reflects the difficulties encountered by Liga Portugal clubs on the European scene for some time. The week started particularly badly with a defeat for Benfica at home against Barça (4-5), on the eve of another failure, this time for Sporting, on the Leizpig pitch (2-1).

And if on several occasions this season, the Thursday matches, which generally count for the Europa League and the Conference League, allow the Portuguese to take points for the UEFA ranking, this was not the case this week. Indeed, FC Porto lost against Olympiakos (0-1), just like SC Braga, defeated by Union Saint-Gilloise (2-1).

The Netherlands take off in the UEFA rankings

With these four defeats, Portugal has not gleaned a single point this week, for the UEFA rankings. The main competitor of the Portuguese, namely the Netherlands, cannot say the same. For their part, the Dutch delivered a simply remarkable week.

This began with the successes of PSV and Feyenoord in the Champions League, and concluded with two new Dutch victories this Thursday. The clubs of Twente and AZ both won the Europa League, while Ajax, defeated in the same competition, appears to be the only black spot in an exceptional week for the Netherlands.

If the Portuguese did not advance in this ranking, the Netherlands for their part gleaned no less than 8 additional points (4*2 points). A total that must however be divided by six, i.e. the number of Dutch teams entered in European competitions this season, to determine a real advance of 1,333 points in the ranking.

Thus, Portugal remains, for the moment, stuck in seventh place with 58,466 points, while the Dutch were able to consolidate their sixth position in the UEFA ranking by now counting 61,233 points.

The threat hangs over Portugal

But well beyond the ranking at the moment, it is the situations of the various Portuguese clubs which are cause for concern. Indeed, Benfica and Sporting are currently on a tightrope, and thus condemned to having to win on the eighth and final day of the league phase to reach the Champions League play-offs.

If they can still validate their ticket for the Europa League play-offs, the Porto and Braga clubs are, for the moment, provisionally eliminated from the competition. An unfavorable scenario, which would lead to the elimination of these four Portuguese teams from the league stages, would doom Portugal's hopes of catching up with its main Dutch competitor in the UEFA rankings. It remains to be seen whether, with their backs to the wall, they will manage to reverse the trend.

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