Premier League retains four Champions League places

The Premier League has retained four places in the Champions League for another year after Juventus, Roma and Lazio all crashed out of Europe last week.

England’s top flight was in danger of losing a spot after being just three points ahead of Serie A in last season’s rankings, which determined the allocations for the 2016-17 campaign.

However, Manchester City’s progression to the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Dynamo Kiev – coupled with Liverpool making the Europa League – means the Premier League has 12.750 points this season compared to Italy’s 11.500.

Italy’s hopes of jumping to third in UEFA’s coefficient rankings were dashed when last season’s Champions League finalists Juventus were knocked out at the last-16 stage by Bayern Munich.

Roma also exited the competition after losing their two-legged tie against Real Madrid, while Lazio’s hopes in the Europa League were ended by Sparta Prague.

Russia’s hopes of leapfrogging France or Portugal into the top six, therefore giving them two automatic Champions League places, came unstuck after Zenit failed to progress past Benfica in Europe’s top competition.