Two leagues will be rewarded with an extra spot in the Champions League next term based on performance in Europe this season.
At present the Premier League is in the driving seat with six of its seven teams reaching the last 16 across all three Uefa competitions.
Manchester City’s defeat to Real Madrid is the only blot on the landscape for England, with Spain in second narrowly closing the gap.
However, Italy, who are third, endured a pretty dismal time in February with AC Milan, Atalanta and Juventus all losing in the knockout play-off round – limiting Serie A’s opportunity to gather more points.
Germany’s prospects appear difficult with Bayern Munich and Dortmund in the same half of the Champions League draw.
Likewise France. Paris St-Germain and Lille are the representatives remaining in the Champions League, with Monaco and Brest exiting at the play-off stage. Lyon, in the Europa League, are the only other French side left in European competition.
Meanwhile, Portugal has four of its five teams remaining but lost Sporting who were defeated by Borussia Dortmund. They could do with Porto edging past Roma in the Europa League play-offs to boost their hopes of making up ground on the top five.
