Serie A fear Bundesliga as they catch up on UEFA coefficient

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As the third day of UEFA events came to an end on Thursday, Serie A went through their darkest three days this season as none of the league's six teams won their games in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League and three were knocked out completely.

Before the last round of the Champions League's group stage on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Italians were looking forward to seeing the picture of all four clubs-Juventus, Napoli, Inter Milan and Roma-making it to the top 16, which hasn't happened since the 2002-03 season.

Disappointed players from Napoli after they lose 1-0 to Liverpool from the Premier League are knocked out of the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League. /VCG Photo

However, the cruel reality came as a head-on blow: three teams-Juventus, Roma and Napoli-lost. The bigger irony was that the only team that did not lose, Inter Milan joined Napoli on their way to the Europa League because Inter needed a win over PSV to make it out of the group but they only got a 1-1 draw.

The Europa League games on Thursday were no less bitter. Both Lazio and AC Milan lost but Lazio at least entered the next stage as No.2 of their group. AC Milan became the real tragedy because they were eliminated after a 3-1 loss against Olympiacos and the Italian club can still get kicked out of the group if they lose by only one goal.

AC Milan's players feel frustrated after their team are defeated 3-1 by Olympiacos and are eliminated from the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League. /VCG Photo

Back on October 2 and 3, all four teams defeated their rivals, the first time for Serie A in 13 years, giving the country's soccer fans the illusion that their league will further leave Bundesliga behind and get closer to the Premier League in the UEFA coefficient.

However, after Thursday, instead of narrowing down its difference in the UEFA coefficient from the Premier League (75.605 points) which still has four teams remaining in the Champions League, Serie A (72.154 points) with only two teams left needs to pay attention to Bundesliga (69.784 points) who have three teams competing in the round of 16 in the Champions League.

Borussia Dortmund players from Bundesliga celebrate after their 2-0 victory over Monaco. /VCG Photo

In the current situation, the German soccer league has already collected 13.071 points for the 2018-19 season, higher than the Italian's 10.071 points. Besides, two of Bundesliga's three remaining clubs, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich entered the round of 16 as No.1 of their group, leaving them at an advantage of playing an away game first in the knockout stage. By contrast, Serie A has only one team, Juventus as group No.1, meaning the future for Italian clubs may get even more critical.