How a Portuguese Cup final can greatly interfere in the fight for 3rd place in the League – Liga Betclic

FC Porto, Sp. Braga and V. Guimarães with different scenarios to grab the place of European consolation: the group stage of the Europa League

Dragões and the two great Minho teams seek, above all, to secure direct entry into the group stage of the Europa League, which in the case of FC Porto and V. Guimarães is still possible via the Portuguese Cup.

As we know, 1st place in the Betclic League gives direct access to the new group stage of the Champions League and 2nd place to the 3rd qualifying round of the same million-dollar UEFA competition, and the next best European place is obviously the of direct entry into the group stage of the Europa League, a certainty for FC Porto and Pinto da Costa, as he himself noted in the interview he gave to SIC, but whose place is occupied, in the first instance, by the winner of the Portuguese Cup, something that many people don’t know, since it is not referenced in the usual championship classifications.

Therefore, only after the semi-finals of the so-called premier competition have been completed will we be able to have more certainty, given that one of the finalists, to be known tonight, will be Sporting or Benfica and that, if normality continues, They will also be the two who will occupy the Champions League spots.

In other words, in the semi-final of the Cup whose 1st leg is tomorrow, V. Guimarães and FC Porto are not only discussing a possible passage to the Jamor final, but also who of the two will have a concrete chance of grabbing this direct passage to the group stage of the Europa League via the Portuguese Cup. Which, if it happens, will ruin all the final efforts on the way to the championship.

For example, if V. Guimarães wins the Portuguese Cup, something still possible at the moment, FC Porto and Sp. Braga, even maintaining their current positions in the League, would only have access to the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League , in the case of the dragons’ 3rd place, and in the Conference League, there for the 4th place occupied by the arsenalists.

Ultimately, as another paradigmatic example, if the championship ended as all five teams at the top of the table are now positioned and FC Porto won the Portuguese Cup, inherently entering directly into the group stage of the Europa League, something also obviously still possible, then the vacancies recorded in the paragraph above would drop one position.

That is: Sp. Braga was in 4th place and with the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League and V. Guimarães in 5th place, but already with the guarantee of qualifying for the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League.

Finally, it should be noted that the team that has the most different scenarios ahead is V. Guimarães, a paradox because at the moment it is the only one that is not guaranteed a European place. And even though they lost the semi-final of the Portuguese Cup with FC Porto, Vitória is practically certain, at least, of a place in the Conference League, since the winner at Jamor would always be one of the first three classified.

This is if, however, Sp. Braga does not get involved in the noise and complicate the accounts of the Victorians and even the Dragons, managing to jump to third place in the League. In this case, the best scenario for Sp. Braga to be able to reach the group stage of the Europa League would be for the winner of the Cup to be Sporting or Benfica, relegating FC Porto and V. Guimarães to places in the qualifying rounds that follow. .

Here’s what the current scenario is like, with special attention to a calendar that also includes direct clashes between them all, highlighting the end of the Sp. Braga League, which includes a visit to Guimarães and the reception to FC Porto:

3rd Place: FC Porto 58 Points (2nd qualifying round of the Europa League)
What’s missing: V. Guimarães (c), Famalicão (c), Casa Pia (f), Sporting (c), Chaves (f), Boavista (c) and Sp. Braga (f).

4th Place: Sp.Braga 56 Points (2nd qualifying round of the Conference League)
What’s missing: Arouca (c), Estoril (f), Vizela (c), Benfica (f), Casa Pia (c), V. Guimarães (f) and FC Porto (c).

5th Place: V. Guimarães 53 Points (No European place at the moment depending on the Portuguese Cup decision)
What’s missing: FC Porto (f), Farense (c), Sporting (f), Boavista (c), Rio Ave (f), Sp. Braga (c) and Arouca (f).

By António Mendes