On the brink of disaster

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SCOTLAND will almost certainly lose one of its two Champions League places the season after next as Belgium yet again put the boot in to our crumbling Uefa co-efficient.

 

As we revealed last week, Standard Liege�s dramatic last-gasp equaliser against AZ Alkmaar in the Champions League tie saw the axe hover on one of the SPL slots in Europe�s premier competition for season 2011-12.

 

Now, in news that will come as a devastating financial blow to the Old Firm, Brugge and Anderlecht have inflicted more serious damage which will almost certainly prove to be fatal.

 

This week those two Belgian clubs added four co-efficient points to their overall ranking with excellent wins over Toulouse and Ajax ââ?¬â??whilst Scotlandââ?¬â?¢s ranking was boosted by just one point after Celticââ?¬â?¢s amazing comeback in their 3-3 draw with Rapid Vienna last night.

 

Our country co-efficient now stands at 25.791 with Belgium�s at 24.900. But whilst the six Scottish teams are out of European competition before Christmas, the Belgians will have Liege, Brugge and Anderlecht all in today�s draw for the Europa League last 32.

 

In laymanââ?¬â?¢s terms, the three Belgian clubs have to make up 0.892 to overtake Scotland ââ?¬â?? the equivalent of two wins and a draw, or a win and three draws from the six guaranteed ties that they have in February.

 

Should they achieve those required results Belgium will leapfrog Scotland into 15th place in Uefa�s ranking and the implications will be a colossal nightmare for the Old Firm.

 

Under Uefa�s complex rules the route to qualifying for the group stages will then become fraught with difficulty in season 2011-12 with whoever wins the SPL title still facing tough qualifying matches.

 

As it stands, next season is probably the last campaign when those who celebrate a title win also celebrate a golden ticket into the group stages of the Champions League.

 

If, as generally tends to be the case, the Champions League winners of this season�s tournament are in the competition for next term courtesy of their domestic placing, then the winners of this season�s SPL have nothing to worry about since they go directly into the group stages.

 

However, it will be the last time such a scenario unfolds with menacing qualifiers lying in wait for the following season.

 

The fact that there have been six teams in Europe has also been particularly disastrous for Scotland�s co-efficient since any points that have been picked up have had to be divided by the number of clubs competing that season.

 

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