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ASTON Villa’s penalty shoot-out win over Lille kept England’s flickering hopes of a fifth Champions League place next term alive.
But it will still take a minor miracle for the Premier League to steal the last spot off Germany.
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The Champions League exits suffered by Arsenal and Manchester City on Wednesday meant the heat was on Villa, West Ham and Liverpool to try to breathe life into the embers.
Despite Liverpool’s win at Atalanta on the night, the first leg deficit was too much to recover.
And Leverkusen’s late equaliser at the London Stadium meant the Hammers also bowed out.
Those results added 0.375 points to England’s tally, which now stands at 17.25 coefficient points, with the aggregate of 138 win, draw and bonus points divided by the eight teams that started the season in European competitions.
Leverkusen picked up a qualification bonus point in addition to the one for the draw, taking Germany’s tally to 17.928.
Villa did not earn any points for their shoot-out win in France, with bonus points in the Conference League only now available for reaching the final and winning it.
It means, if Villa win both legs of the last four clash and also lift the trophy in Athens next month, they will take England’s total to 18.25 points.
But even then, Germany would need an absolute disaster for their three semi-final qualifiers to lose that fifth Champions League place.
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HOW IT STANDS AT THE MOMENT
Here’s how the top nations rank for European places – in terms of current points and the maximum possible total.
1 Italy 19.286 22.285
2 Germany 17.928 20.928
3 England 17.25 18.25
4 France* 15.583
If Marseille go through that will go to 16.083
If Marseille go through the max for France will be 18.749
If Marseille go out the max for France is 16.74
5 Spain 15.312 16.312
Bayern Munich face Real Madrid in the Champions League semis, with Dortmund up against PSG, while Leverkusen play Roma in the Europa League.
The trio need just three draws, or a win and a draw between them, even if all three go out, for even a Villa Conference League triumph to be able to deny them from earning the extra place.
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If any of the Germans go through, they are guaranteed a minimum three points, which would see off those remaining English hopes.
Italy, in top spot, has already sealed an extra place.
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