The first baskets of Zenit and CSKA, Krasnodar's hope for CAS: what awaits Russian clubs in the European competitions of the 2020/21 season

In the Champions League draw, Zenit will be placed in the first basket and will be able to count on less strong rivals in the group stage, while Lokomotiv risks getting into the fourth again and being in the same quartet with several top teams. At the same time, Krasnodar is able to either automatically overcome the third qualifying round, or to receive the seeded status in it in the event of a successful CAS verdict. CSKA will almost certainly get the best seeding in the Europa League group stage, while Rostov and Dynamo risk running into trouble in the qualifier.

"Zenith"

Zenit will be in the first basket for the second time in a row in the Champions League group stage draw. He received such a right as the champion of a country in the top six leagues at the end of 2019.

At the same time, it is already known for sure that after the current season Portugal will come to sixth place, and from 2021 Russia will not have not only a guaranteed place in the first basket for the RPL winner, but also three teams in the Champions League.

In the group stage, Zenit may not be afraid of meetings with Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern, PSG and the winner of the Italian Serie A (which, with a high degree of probability, could be Juventus). Also, Sergei Semak's wards will avoid matches with the current winners of the Champions League and Europa League. Who exactly it will be will become known only on August 21 and 23.

24 teams are still competing for places in the first basket. If the Champions League is won by Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG or Juventus (if they become the champion of Italy), then the winner of the next country in the UEFA coefficients, that is Portuguese Porto, will get into the first basket. He, too, will no longer be a rival of Zenit.

It makes no sense to guess who the Petersburgers can play with. Two Borussia Dortmund and Mönchengladbach, Marseille and Club Brugge managed to get to the group stage without a chance for a better seeding. Added to these will be current Champions League and Europa League entrants who will not be able to win titles, as well as next season's selection winners.

Lazio is in a special position. He has already guaranteed himself a fourth place in Serie A, but could lose his Champions League ticket if Napoli win the tournament and Roma celebrate the Europa League victory. One country cannot enter more than five teams in the main European Cup, so if such an incredible scenario is fulfilled, the fourth Italian team will be among the participants in a less prestigious championship. Atalanta and Inter are in the same position, but at least they will fight for European trophies in August and may end up in the first basket with Zenit in the next season's draw.

"Locomotive"

Lokomotiv took second place in the Russian championship and will now also play in the main round of the Champions League. But the Muscovites will no longer have such privileges as Zenit. At the draw, they will be queued up in line with the available UEFA odds. For Lokomotiv it is 33,000 points, and this is not enough to qualify for a place in the second basket. But the practice of past years shows that this may not be enough to get into the third.

Only in the previous season would such an indicator have allowed a slightly more favorable lot to be obtained. As for the fourth basket, Lokomotiv still has a chance to avoid it. But for this he should be very lucky, so that more teams with worse odds than those of the “railroad” will make it to the group stage.

Now Lokomotiv is guaranteed to leave behind only Marseille, Brugge and Borussia Mönchengladbach. If five more clubs perform worse than Muscovites, they will still make their way into the third basket.

Krasnodar

For the second time in a row, Krasnodar will try to make it to the group stage of the Champions League, starting from the third qualifying round. Last time he managed to beat Porto, but in the next round the Russian team lost twice to Olympiacos. Once again, the southerners will follow the so-called "league path" provided for participants who did not become champions of their countries.

It is interesting that this time Krasnodar will have a chance to automatically overcome the first qualifying barrier. If the victory in the Europa League is won by a team that has already made its way to the group stage of the Champions League on its own and did not become the national champion, then its ticket will have to be redistributed among the participants of the "league path". The success of Sevilla, Manchester United, Inter, Shakhtar Donetsk or Istanbul Bashakshehir will lead the French Rennes to the group stage of the Champions League, and the bulls will immediately get their place in the playoffs.

If this does not happen, then Krasnodar will still have to win twice a two-legged series with representatives of the selection. In particular, he may meet with Benfica and Ghent.

In the League Paths playoffs, the four winners of the third qualifying round will face off. If the bulls fail, then they will continue to play in the Europa League.

CSKA

Thanks to the fourth place in the Russian Championship, CSKA made it to the group stage of the Europa League. There are still too few participants in this stage so that we can say something definitely about potential opponents of the army team. However, it must be admitted that their UEFA odds of 44,000 are impressive enough to qualify for Pot 1.

If the favorites in the selection of the Champions League will fly out and move to the Europa League, then CSKA will have to be mentally prepared for meetings with teams of the level of Villarreal, Napoli, Roma and Bayer. But again, so far the army team is in a comfortable enough position to be in the first basket, just like a year ago.

"Rostov"

Rostov, with its fifth place in the RPL, advanced to the third qualifying round of the Europa League. 52 teams will take part in it, and half of them will be seeded at the draw. The coefficient of the Russian club is 12,000, and with such points, nothing is guaranteed for it with a possible choice of an opponent.

At the moment, Valery Karpin's squad is still among the 26 best who will take part in this stage of the Europa League or can break into it. However, some other clubs have not yet determined the final coefficients, and in theory they may overtake Rostov. So far, his position is rather precarious, and possible meetings with Sporting, Sparta, PSV or even Tottenham cannot be ruled out. Some clarity will come only when the current European Cup season ends.

"Dynamo"

Dynamo will start the new European Cup season earlier than all of the Russian clubs. Thanks to Zenit's victory in the Russian Cup and the sixth place in the RPL, it will start on September 17 in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, and on August 31 it will recognize its counterpart.

At this stage, Dynamo can be afraid of nothing. Among the 74 participants of the "main path", they will definitely be in the first half in terms of their coefficient and will receive seeding. This excludes meetings with Granada, Tottenham, Milan, Wolfsburg and Standard, who also had a chance to get into the second qualifying round. Further, it will be more difficult for Dynamo. Its coefficient of 9.109 is even lower than that of Rostov. Most likely, further blue and white will no longer be able to avoid more dangerous opponents.