Liverpool defeated Atalanta 0-3 in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals in the 2023-2024 season at Anfield in Liverpool, England, at 4 a.m. on the 12th (Korea time). Liverpool, which lost the first leg at home, was in danger of being eliminated.

The damage caused by Liverpool's defeat is not entirely seen by Liverpool. UEFA expanded the number of participating teams from 32 to 36 by revising the European Champions League (UCL) from the 2024-2025 season. Four more UCL qualifications will be added, paving the way for fifth place in the Premier League to participate in next season's UCL. This is because two of the four newly added tickets will be given to the top two teams with good performances in the European competition.

For example, if EPL clubs do well against Europe in the 2023-2024 season and are included in the top two leagues, the team that achieves fifth place in the league will be given a UCL berth in the 2024-2025 season.

According to the current progress, Italy's Serie A is expected to take the No. 1 league in the European competition. It is a big difference from Germany's Bundesliga and EPL, which are competing for second place. Serie is performing overwhelmingly as Atalanta's chances of overpowering Liverpool are rising.

The competition between the Bundesliga and the EPL is fierce. Ahead of the first leg of the quarterfinals, the Bundesliga was in second place (16.36 points), about 0.11 points ahead of the third-place EPL. Many predicted that the EPL will eventually move beyond the Bundesliga to the second-place league.

Compared to the Bundesliga, where only Bayern Munich, Dortmund (UCL), and Bayer Leverkusen (Europa League) remain, Arsenal, Manchester City (UCL), Liverpool, and West Ham (Europa League) and Aston Villa (Europa Conference League) were continuing their competition in the European competition. As Leverkusen was predicted to advance West Ham to the semifinals of the Europa League, other teams had to do well to reverse the EPL.

However, Liverpool was on the verge of elimination, and Arsenal began to worry about the away road as they failed to overpower Bayern at home. Dortmund is also in danger with the first leg of the quarterfinals, but there is hope of a reversal as the second leg is home. If that happens, all three Bundesliga teams may survive, and only Manchester City and Villa may survive in the EPL.

If the EPL does not surpass the Bundesliga in the competition for the European competition, even if it ranks fifth in the league this season, it will not have the luck to advance to the UCL. One of the teams that has the potential to rank fifth is Son Heung-min's Tottenham. Tottenham is fourth in the league, but it is tied with Villa on points. There is one more game left, but the remaining difficulty of the schedule is more difficult than Villa. It is not a situation where you can never rest assured of ranking fourth.

Going to the UCL and the Europa League is a far cry from each other. In terms of schedule, UEL is much more difficult. Whether Tottenham secures a berth in the UCL can also be a huge advantage in recruiting players. While looking forward to the EPL teams' performance in the European competition, it will be a comfortable way for Tottenham to decide the fourth place on its own.