Messi, in case you missed it, recently moved to a new club
It’s official: Lionel Messi no longer plays in one of European football’s top five domestic leagues.
Having bid a tearful farewell to Barcelona earlier this month, Messi is expected to make his debut for Paris Saint-Germain this weekend, when Mauricio Pochettino’s side take on Reims.
News of his move to France has been big news, but plenty of football fans have pointed to the drop in overall quality in Ligue 1 when compared to La Liga, where Messi has plied his trade for the entirety of his career to date.
Now, ahead of the Champions League and Europa League draws, it’s been confirmed that the French top flight has been demoted in UEFA’s coefficient rankings.
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UEFA have monitored the collective performance of the clubs from each of its member associations for decades, using its coefficient statistics to determine which is deemed the strongest leagues. A year ago, France were ranked fifth, with only England, Spain, Italy and Germany were ahead of them.
This year, however, in the wake of the recent Champions league qualifiers, they have been replaced by Portugal – with Primeira Liga sides performing better in European competition than their French counterparts.
Benfica’s penalty shootout victory over PSV Eindhoven tipped the balance in favour of the Portugal on Tuesday night. This was solidified by Monaco’s aggregate defeat to Shaktar Donetsk. After losing the first leg at home to the Ukrainian side, Monaco could only manage a 2-2 draw on Wednesday.
Premier League clubs’ strong performances in Europe sees them remain at the top of the ranking, with Spain second. Italy are narrowly ahead of Germany in third, with Portugal now nudging France down to sixth.
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