Liverpool could block Everton Champions League hopes
Liverpool could deny Everton a place in the Champions League next season even if they finish below them in the Barclays Premiership.
Rafael Benitez’s side are currently eight points behind their fourth-placed rivals but are through to the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier competition.
Should they win the trophy and finish fifth, it would be left to the discretion of the Football Association whether or not Liverpool would be put forward to defend the trophy.
If the FA decide to do this and their request was accepted by UEFA, the team finishing fourth in the Premiership would drop into the UEFA Cup.
“One country cannot have more than four places – it would be up to the FA to make the request for Liverpool,” a UEFA spokesman told official website www.liverpoolfc.tv
Champions League regulations states: “At the request of the national association concerned, the UEFA Champions League title-holders may be entered for this competition, if they have not qualified via the top domestic league championship.
“If, in such a case, the title-holders come from an association entitled to enter four teams for the UEFA Champions League, the fourth-placed club in the top domestic league championship has to be entered for the UEFA Cup.”
