The chances of Real being in Pot 2 of the Europa League group stage draw, which will take place on October 2 in Nyon, are increasingly slim. In the absence of the five return matches of the final round of the Champions League qualifiers (September 29 and 30), and the 21 decisive matches of the last qualifying round of the second continental competition (October 1), the txuri team urdin points to the third bass drum, although everything will be decided the night before.
Each of the four pots has 12 seats, distributed according to the UEFA coefficient. Arsenal, Rome, Naples, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal and CSKA Moscow already have their ticket insured for the first, and Leicester and Rapid from Vienna, for the second, while Braga and Sparta from Prague will be, for sure, in one of the first two. Thus, 13 seats remain.
To be in Pot 2, the Real need that among the five teams that fall from the last Champions League qualifier and the 21 that qualify from the last Europa League qualifier, a maximum of 12 exceed their coefficient.
At least two of those from the Champions League, the losers of Gent-Dinamo Kiev and Krasnodar-PAOK, will have a better UEFA score than the Txuri Urdin. Among the applicants of the previous 21 Europa League there are 17 clubs with the best coefficient. As there are no direct confrontations, the Real need at least seven to lose, a figure that increases if one more falls from the Champions League (Olympiacos, Krasnodar or Slavia of Prague). On paper, it seems unlikely, although everything will be decided on the night before the draw, on Thursday 1.