{"id":60303,"date":"2025-05-10T12:49:30","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T12:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=60303"},"modified":"2025-05-10T12:49:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T12:49:30","slug":"wenger-united-or-spurs-should-be-stripped-of-champions-league-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=60303","title":{"rendered":"Wenger: United or Spurs should be stripped of Champions League spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Manchester United and Tottenham are set to meet in the Europa League final\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The winner of that showdown will secure a spot in the Champions League\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>LISTEN NOW: It&#8217;s All Kicking Off! Arsenal need to sign players for the here and now to win the Premier League&#8230; so, should they sign Harry Kane?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<p>Arsene Wenger believes Manchester United or Tottenham should not be allowed to compete in the Champions League next season even if they win the Europa League.<\/p>\n<p>United and Spurs are set to meet in the final in Bilbao on May 21 after securing aggregate leads heading into this week&#8217;s semi-final second leg ties.<\/p>\n<p>Ruben Amorim&#8217;s side thrashed Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in the away leg while Spurs beat Norwegian side Bodo\/Glimt 3-1 to move a step closer to a first trophy since 2008.<\/p>\n<p>However, both clubs are now guaranteed to finish outside of the Premier League&#8217;s European qualification spots &#8211; with United 15th and Spurs in 16th.<\/p>\n<p>UEFA changed its rules in 2014 to allow the winners of the Europa League to qualify for the Champions League, but Wenger believes this is &#8216;not right&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Former Arsenal boss Wenger told BeIN Sports: &#8216;No. They should qualify automatically for the Europa League but not necessarily for the Champions League.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Arsene Wenger says Europa League winners should not qualify for the Champions League<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Manchester United and Tottenham are set to face off in the final in Bilbao on May 21<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Wenger believes a rule change is needed so that the winners remain in the competition again<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8216;Especially when you&#8217;re in the Premier League where already five teams qualify.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think it&#8217;s something [for UEFA] to think about and to review.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;On the other hand people will tell you that to keep the Europa League focused, interesting and motivated you need to give them that prize [Champions League].&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Since the rebranding of the Europa League, UEFA&#8217;s second biggest continental club competition, in 2009-10, no team lower than 12th has reached the final or won it.<\/p>\n<p>Sevilla, 12th in LaLiga, lifted the trophy in 2023 while Fulham, who also finished 12th in the Premier League in the 2009-10 campaign, lost the final to Atletico Madrid in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>United won the Europa League in 2018 during Jose Mourinho&#8217;s first season in charge and qualified for the Champions League despite finishing in sixth place.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking after his side&#8217;s 4-3 defeat by Brentford on Sunday, their 16th league loss of the season, Amorim admitted his focus is now solely on Europe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think it&#8217;s stressful to lose games,&#8217; said Amorim. &#8216;[But] when we&#8217;re fighting for a title it&#8217;s not stressful. I have no doubts that we are playing better and we are understanding the way we play, even in this context.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Ruben Amorim placed all his eggs in one basket after United&#8217;s horror Premier League campaign<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Ange Postecoglou is in the same situation as he looks to secure Spurs&#8217; first trophy since 2008<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>United won the Europa League under Jose Mourinho in 2016 to reach the Champions League<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8216;So we have to take all the hits in this moment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We are losing games in the Premier League, but we are fighting for the Europa League so we need to accept that and to think about Thursday now.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This is the most important game for us.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Wenger departed Arsenal in 2018 before being appointed FIFA&#8217;s head of global football development a year later. He has proposed a raft of controversial changes, including tweaks to the offside rule and a biennial World Cup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United and Spurs are set to meet in the Europa League final in Bilbao on May 21 after securing aggregate leads heading into this week&#8217;s semi-final second leg ties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":60304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2130,906,28,19,91,18,29,300],"class_list":["post-60303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-arsene-wenger","tag-champions-league","tag-dailymail","tag-europa-league","tag-football","tag-manchester-united","tag-sport","tag-tottenham-hotspur"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Wenger: United or Spurs should be stripped of Champions League spot - 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