UEFA Conference League held matchday 6 out of 8 of the league phase on Thursday December 11, before going on a winter break. The results boost Aston Villa, the big favourite to win this competition according to analytics, back to the top three: third position, with 15 points, same las Lyon and Midtjylland, coming from five wins and one defeat. Real Betis, runner-up last year in Conference League, losing to Chelsea, is fourth.
In fact, the top six teams, with 14 or 15 points, have secured qualification for the next stage: Lyon, Midtjylland, Aston Villa, Real Betis, SC Freiburg and Ferencvaros. The other two teams, Braga and Porto, with 13 points, complete the current top 8 of the table: those are the one that would qualify directly for round of 16.
On the other side of the table, Nice has alreay been eliminated, having won zero points, with no chances of reaching the 24th position...
Europa League results from December 11
Young Boys 1-0 Lille
Dinamo Zagreb 1-3 Real Betis
Midtjylland 1-0 Genk
Utrecht 1-2 Nottingham Forest
Ferencváros 2-1 Rangers
Ludogorets 3-3 PAOK
Celta Vigo 1-2 Bologna
Nice 0-1 Braga
Sturm Graz 0-1 Red Star Belgrade
Stuttgart 4-1 Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Basel 1-2 Aston Villa
Celtic 0-3 Roma
Porto 2-1 Malmo
Lyon 2-1 Go Ahead Eagles
FCSB 4-3 Feyenoord
SC Freiburg 1-0 RB Salzburg
Panathinaikos 0-0 Viktoria Plzen
Brann 0-4- Fenerbahçe
Europa League won't resume until January 22, for the penultimate matchday, followed by the final matchday on Janaury 28, which is when we will know the top 8 teams that qualify for round of 16, and the teams between 9 and 24 that will play the knockout play-offs in February.
Are you following UEFA Europa League this year? Who do you think will win this year?