2023-12-12 22:11:00
The eight meetings this Wednesday evening will deliver the final verdicts. Particularly in group F where PSG, Newcastle and Milan can still qualify. But for the Belgians involved, the last suspenses have already fallen this Tuesday.
Champions League: Manchester’s feat did not take place, Benfica in the Europa League, Real sluggish but victorious at Union Berlin
Sans Mertens
Besides the qualification of Naples which was quickly decided against Braga (2-0), the big suspense of the evening came from group A where Copenhagen, Galatasaray and Manchester United could all still join Bayern Munich. We had to wait until the hour mark in both matches for the situation to finally resolve itself, and it was FC Copenhagen who secured their second place by beating Gala.
Dries Mertens, who entered the game just after the Danish goal, finished third and will compete in the Europa League play-offs. Which means that Manchester United, beaten by Bayern (0-1), is eliminated from its last place.
Dries Mertens was beaten by Copenhagen.
Among the twelve Belgians entered in the group stage, only one other failed to qualify: Dodi Lukebakio. The Sevilla FC winger – who has just been injured and will miss six to eight weeks of competition – even saw his teammates end the campaign with a defeat at Lens (2-1) this Tuesday evening. There will therefore be no repechage in the Europa League either.
Axel Witsel (Atletico Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku (Manchester City), Loïs Openda (Leipzig) are, however, already qualified even before their team’s match this Wednesday (Doku and KDB are out). Ditto for Leandro Trossard (Arsenal), Johan Bakayoko and Yorbe Vertessen (PSV), opponents last night but all three qualified. Thomas Meunier and Julien Duranville (Dortmund), as well as Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) could appear in the second round, even if they did not play during the group stage, due to injuries or non-registration .
Vertessen, hero on the start?
The January transfer window nevertheless risks changing the situation. We know that Thomas Meunier could leave Dortmund if an opportunity presents itself, but he is not the only one. Yorbe Vertessen is not closing the door to a departure either. “My priority is to win here, but I always keep my options open,” he confided this Tuesday evening to RTL, even though he scored a superb goal to equalize against Arsenal (1-1).
Competition with Noa Lang and Hirving Lozano, currently injured but soon to return, could indeed get the better of his patience. In any case, he has just proven twice (he was also decisive two weeks ago in Seville) that he deserved much more than a joker place.
In total, however, there will be ten if nothing changes. The best total since the 2019/2020 season which saw a record fourteen qualifiers. Last season, there were “only” nine of them to spend the winter in the Champions League (not counting Bruges), but seven of them reached the semi-final: unheard of for the Belgium. Is it possible to do even better this year? The draw for eight duels which will take place on December 18 will already provide part of the answer.
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