Chelsea beat Shamrock and advance first in the Conference League
English team beats Irish team 5-1 in London, with three goals from Guiu. Check out the teams that qualified directly for the round of 16 and those that advance to the playoffs
Chelsea won once again and ended their participation in the Conference League qualifying phase with a 100 % success rate. The English team beat Shamrock Rovers 5-1 this Thursday in London, reaching six wins in six rounds. Marc Guiu was the star of the match, scoring three times for the London team, which also had goals from Dewsbury-Hall and Cucurella. Poom scored for the visitors.
The victory means Chelsea end their league campaign in first place, with 18 points from six wins. Second place went to Vitória de Guimarães of Portugal, with 14, and third place went to Fiorentina of Italy, with 13. Rounding out the top eight of the Conference League, they were Rapid Vienna (Austria), Djurgarden (Sweden), Lugano (Switzerland), Legia Warsaw (Poland) and Cercle Brugge (Belgium).
The teams that finished from ninth to 24th place will advance to the playoffs for the remaining eight spots in the round of 16. They are Jagiellonia (Poland), Shamrock Rovers (Ireland), Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus), Pafos (Cyprus), Panathinaikos (Greece), Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), Betis (Spain), Heidenheim (Germany), Gent (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Vikingur (Iceland), Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Celje (Slovenia), Omonia (Cyprus), Molde (Norway) and TSC Backa Topola (Serbia).
The eliminated teams, who finished between 25th and 36th place, were Hearts (Scotland), Istanbul Basaksehir (Turkey), Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic), Astana (Kazakhstan), St. Gallen (Switzerland), HJK Helsinki (Finland), Noah (Armenia), The New Saints (Wales), Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), Larne (Northern Ireland), LASK Linz (Austria) and Petrocub (Moldova).
Playoff draw this Friday
The playoff stage matches will be drawn by UEFA this Friday at 9am (Brasília time). The duels in the next stage will follow the classic knockout format of UEFA competitions: home and away matches, with qualification for the next stage at stake. The team with the advantage in the aggregate of the scores will advance, and in the event of a tie, the tie will be broken in extra time and, if necessary, in a penalty shootout.
The teams finishing between ninth and 16th in the league stage will be seeded in the draw and will play the return leg at home. The draw is conducted by UEFA according to their league stage performance, with the teams divided into pairs in eight different pots: 9th and 10th, 11th and 12th, 13th and 14th, 15th and 16th, 17th and 18th, 19th and 20th, 21st and 22nd, 23rd and 24th.
Thus, those who have scored the most points will face one of those who have scored the fewest points, in the following manner: the ninth and 10th place will necessarily face the 23rd or 24th; the 11th and 12th will duel against the 21st or 22nd, and so on.
he same system will be used by UEFA to define the round of 16 matches. The eight teams that went straight to this stage are also divided into pairs, with the best-placed teams waiting for the duels involving the teams with the worst performance.
Teams from the same country can now face each other in the playoffs, as well as teams that faced each other throughout the league phase. The Conference League playoff games will be played on February 13 and 20.
The Conference League qualifiers:
Qualified for the round of 16: Chelsea (England), Vitória de Guimarães (Portugal), Fiorentina (Italy), Rapid Vienna (Austria), Djurgarden (Sweden), Lugano (Switzerland), Legia Warsaw (Poland) and Cercle Brugge (Belgium);
Qualified for the playoffs: Jagiellonia (Poland), Shamrock Rovers (Ireland), Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus), Pafos (Cyprus), Panathinaikos (Greece), Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), Betis (Spain), Heidenheim (Germany), Gent (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Vikingur (Iceland), Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Celje (Slovenia), Omonia (Cyprus), Molde (Norway) and TSC Backa Topola (Serbia);
Eliminated: Hearts (Scotland), Istanbul Basaksehir (Turkey), Mladá Boleslav (Czech Republic), Astana (Kazakhstan), St. Gallen (Switzerland), HJK Helsinki (Finland), Noah (Armenia), The New Saints (Wales), Dinamo Minsk (Belarus), Larne (Northern Ireland), LASK Linz (Austria) and Petrocub (Moldova).
