There are several ways to make the UEFA Champions League each season. Most clubs make it into the world’s most prestigious club competition via their standing in their league during the previous year. Champions (duh) as well as up to three more teams from each league across Europe enter the tournament at various stages. While it may be the most lengthy process to gain entry into the Champions League, it is probably also the easiest. So many different things can happen over the course of a 30+ game season that sneaking into third or fourth place can happen for even the underdog squad. However, there are two other routes to get into the Champions League the following year: win it or win the UEFA Europa League, Europe’s secondary club event. While many of the teams in the quarter-finals of both the Champions and Europa Leagues will qualify next year by their league position, some aren’t so lucky. Here are the teams left in Europe that are trying to gain entry into next year’s UCL the hard way.
VFL WOLFSBURG
Wolfsburg have never recovered from their sluggish start in the Bundesliga this year. The loss of playmaker Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City hurt them domestically, and for a while made them seem to be group stage and done in the Champions League. However, they’ve showed tremendous composure and cohesion in Europe and won their group. They then ousted Belgian champions Gent in the Round of 16 in one of the more entertaining ties of the round. Next up was easily their toughest test of the tournament, 10x champions of Europe, Real Madrid. Wolfsburg got Los Blancos on their turf in the first leg, and everybody not wearing lime green and white was surprised with the result. Two goals in a span of seven minutes in the first half gave Die Wölfe an advantage they never relinquished. They sit eighth in the Bundesliga at the moment, six points off even a Europa League place. A two goal lead isn’t insurmountable for Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, but Wolfsburg aren’t wavering on their chances to advance and win the Champions League, their only method of qualification for next year.
MANCHESTER CITY
It seems fitting that both the former and current team of Kevin De Bruyne find themselves in desperate need of a Champions League victory to secure their place in the 2016-17 edition. City are currently fourth in the Barclays Premier League, but find themselves in a knockdown, drag out fight with rivals Manchester United as well as West Ham United for that coveted spot. The Citizens should be more than clear of both heading into these final months, but have stumbled on several occasions while balancing cup runs and European competition. Nevertheless, Manuel Pellegrini has gotten his man to previously uncharted territory for the club in his final season at the helm. They battled back against PSG, getting a draw and two vital away goals as the second leg comes to the Etihad. They have scored more than any other team in the Premier League this year at home, but they would need just one against the French champions to seal progression and put themselves one step closer to automatic UCL qualification.
BRAGA
When you think of Portuguese football, you think of the three big names at the top: Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, and Porto. To make an extremely dated entertainment comparison, those three are the Moe, Larry, and Curly of the Primeira Liga. Braga is Shemp. The often forgotten member of Portugal’s footballing hierarchy, 2010-11 Europa League runners-up Braga has gotten further in that tournament than two of their three compatriots, Porto and Sporting, this year. As they are eleven points back domestically of third place, the final Champions League spot, Braga need to win the Europa League to get into next year’s Champions League. They are currently down 2-1 to Ukrainian side, and 2009 winners, Shakhtar Donetsk after the first leg. But if Braga can bury some of the many chances they squandered on home soil in the Ukraine, they could ride that wave of momentum to the UCL in what would be their third ever appearance in the tournament.
LIVERPOOL
When Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool in the early portions of this season, many Reds fans believed that he was the key for a return to European glory for the storied club. While their progression through the Europa League hasn’t been exactly pretty, Klopp has his men on the verge of taking the first step in that return to the glory days. If Liverpool is going to get back to the Champions League though, they are going to have to get through Klopp’s old club Borussia Dortmund. Divock Origi’s composed finish gave them a lead, and an away goal, but the defense cracked enough in the second half to give that goal back as the series heads back to Anfield. It is going to take a run for the ages over their final eight games, as well as some monumental collapses from those in front of them, to get in via the league. Taking out a familiar face and then bringing home a record tying fourth UEFA Cup/Europa League crown is Liverpool’s toughest, yet most attainable at the same time, option.
SEVILLA & ATHLETIC BILBAO
This inter-Spanish rumble in the Europa League is intensified by the fact that the loser of this two-legged affair is most likely not going to play in the Champions League next season. Bilbao and Sevilla are both currently on 48 points in La Liga, good for sixth and seventh position in the table. Athletic Club is only ahead on goal differential. That point haul puts them nine points behind Villarreal, another team still in the Europa League, the current holder of the final Champions League place in Spain. Sevilla knows better than anybody the thrills of the rocky road to backdoor UCL qualification, having done so last year after winning their second consecutive Europa League. They also won back to back titles in 2006 and 2007. No team has ever won three straight. Athletic Bilbao isn’t shying away from the challenge either behind the competition’s leading scorer Aritz Aduriz. The 35 year old is in the finest form of his career in his third stint with Bilbao, and recently got a call-up to the Spanish national team during the most recent international break. He and his teammates would love to add a Golden Boot and a date with Champions League destiny at the end of this season. Sevilla leads 2-1 as they take the series home to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.
Which team do you think has the best chance of making it to next year’s Champions League the hard way? Let us know in the comments and be sure to watch all the European pageantry with GameView by your side. These final months should be fun.