The removal of Villarreal at the hands of Liverpool has brought good news for Ukrainian football which is currently paralyzed as a result of the Russian aggression. Shakhtar Donetsk will directly participate in the group stage of the next edition of the Champions League without having to play the previous stage.
Shakhtar will occupy one of 26 places with direct access to the Champions League that have been vacant in Liverpool’s qualifiers. This is what UEFA has set aside for the champion of the current edition of the tournament, but both the ‘reds’, as well as Manchester City and Real Madrid, are the other two opponents to win the title in the Saint-Denis final on May 28, which secure their participation through their respective leagues.
Real Madrid were declared LaLiga champions on Saturday and City and Liverpool, first and second in the Premier League, are 22 and 21 points ahead of Tottenham in fifth, respectively, four games from the end.
The Ukrainian Premier, terminated
The Ukrainian Premier was terminated on April 26 because it could not resume after the winter break due to aggression and, although it left the championship title void, the Federation decided to award two Champions League spots to Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo kyiv , leader. and came second when the championship was stopped in December.
Direct access to the Champions League group stage would mean an important economic injection for Shakhtar in the delicate situation it is going through due to the war. In the 2019-20 season, he entered 43.1 million euros for his participation in the tournament.
Shakhtar, like Dinamo kyiv, have been touring Europe in recent weeks playing friendly charity matches for refugees.
The exclusion of clubs in Russia favors Scotland
Shakhtar also benefited from UEFA’s decision on Monday to exclude Russian clubs from its competitions next season.
Russia is in eighth place in the ranking of the organization of nations and the Scottish champion (11th), Celtic or Rangers, will take their place in the group stage of the Champions League. Ukraine, next in the table in 12th place, benefited from Liverpool’s qualifier on Tuesday.
Source: La Verdad
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