Scottish Premier League lose out on automatic Champions League qualification spot due to UEFA coefficient rule

Scottish Premiership winners will no longer be guaranteed a participation in the UEFA Champions League group stage starting in the following season, after Czech Republic surpassed Scotland to claim 10th place in UEFA's coefficient standings.

The final piece of the puzzle was Viktoria Plzen's 0-0 draw at Fiorentina on Thursday during their UEFA Europa Conference League quarter final first leg. This means that the Scottish title winners beyond this season will play a team that is outside the top 10 European leagues in the Champions League playoff round.

How did the UEFA Conference League Quarter-finals pan out?

After Aston Villa's Europa Conference League quarter final first leg at Villa Park, they will head back to Lille with a slim 2-1 lead. John McGinn's corner kick gave Villa the lead early with a header from Ollie Watkins, and McGinn's deflected effort shortly into the second half extended Unai Emery's team's lead on the special day of his 1000th managerial game. But late in the game, Bafode Diakite's header gave Lille, who had missed several decent chances in the first half and had Gabriel Gudmundsson's goal disallowed for offside after a VAR check, their just desserts.

Brugge lost the opportunity to control their tie due to a missed penalty, but they did win the first leg against PAOK by a slim margin. The Belgian team had a brilliant start, delighting the home crowd with a great team effort that was finished brilliantly by Hugo Vetlesen.

Despite intense pressure from Brugge, the visitors managed to maintain their lead at one going into halftime. Raphael Onyedika's penalty kick was expertly saved to retain the hosts' lead at one, even though Brugge looked to have a chance to extend the lead and end the tie. 

Olympiacos took quick use of their early lead against Fenerbahçe, opening the score with an outside-the-box goal from Kostas Fortounis. Just after the half-hour mark, Olympiacos had breathing room across the tie thanks to a double from Stevan Jovetić, which turned things from good to terrific for the hosts.

Before the hour mark, Chiquinho came on from midfield and gave the home team a three-goal lead, effectively ending the game and maybe the tie. But in the next phase, the game came to life as Fenerbahçe scored two goals in short succession, one from penalty kicks from Dušan Tadić and the other through İrfan Kahveci.