a difficult and potentially decisive week for Portugal

This week, the five Portuguese clubs still competing in European competitions return to the field. Great performances are expected for Portugal, which hopes to continue its march forward in the UEFA rankings.

Portugal's objective is clear: return to sixth place in the UEFA coefficient ranking. A mission that is entirely achievable given the excellent start to the season for Portuguese clubs on the European scene. For the moment, Portugal is the second best nation on the continent in the current season, behind England, absolute leader of this ranking. However, the next few hours could be decisive, with the prospect of several particularly delicate posters to be contested.

A big week for Portugal

What's better than a shock against one of the best teams in the world to start this European week? This Tuesday evening, it is Sporting who will challenge the Manchester City club, for the last appearance of Ruben Amorim on José Alvalade's bench. Currently in excellent momentum, the Sporting Leões are dreaming of creating an improbable surprise on their home field, against one of the big favorites of the competition.

The poster that will await the Portuguese clubs the next day will be no less prestigious. For its part, Benfica will travel to Munich to face Bayern in the Champions League. Authors of two successes in three matches in this main phase, the Eagles will also wish to defy the predictions, and thus strengthen Portugal's position within the UEFA ranking.

Two extremely solid opponents, therefore. Thursday will be calmer for the Portuguese clubs. In the Europa League, FC Porto will travel to Rome to challenge Lazio, while Braga will face Elfsborg. Vitoria, the only Portuguese representative in the Conference League, will face Mlada Boleslav.

Objective: 6th place in the UEFA rankings

For the Portuguese, the challenge will therefore be to continue the march forward started at the start of the season, and continue this famous quest for sixth place. To do this, the Portuguese clubs will have to manage to glean as many points as possible this week, in matches for which they will not always be the big favorites.

Currently, 3,184 points separate Portugal, seventh, from the Netherlands, sixth, in the UEFA coefficient rankings. If this gap cannot be closed this week, even in the most favorable scenario, Portuguese successes could help to further reduce this gap, which has already been greatly reduced since the start of the financial year.

Furthermore, the success of the Portuguese clubs during this fourth day of European competitions would allow the teams concerned to take a further step towards the following rounds of their respective event. It remains to be seen whether the latter are really capable of doing so, facing opponents of a particularly high level.

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