Manchester United's faint hopes of qualifying for the Champions League have been dealt a fatal blow as Jadon Sancho's Borussia Dortmund beat Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Sancho starred for Dortmund as they beat PSG 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final clash, with the victory ensuring the Bundesliga will have five teams enter next season's tournament.
The Champions League is being revamped next season, with UEFA increasing the number of clubs in action from 32 to 36. Two of the extra four spots will go to the leagues that perform best in Europe this season based on their coefficient ranking.
Serie A sealed the first spot last month after three Italian clubs reached European semi-finals and four out of five Premier League clubs were knocked out of Europe. The eliminations of Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and West Ham left the Premier League with an outside chance of earning the final extra Champions League spot.
However, Dortmund's win over PSG means the Bundesliga will now get that place and only the top four Premier League sides will qualify for the Champions League. And that comes as a major blow to United, who are unable to catch Aston Villa in fourth but could leapfrog fifth-placed Tottenham.
"We wanted to qualify for the Champions League through the Bundesliga and not this way," Dortmund boss Edin Terzic said following his side's victory. "But the fact that it will be enough to qualify as fifth is also partly down to our success, our contribution.
"Our minimum goal was to qualify for the Champions League. Now it [added spot] does not improve our Bundesliga season, but it does offer a softer landing." Sancho, meanwhile, earned plenty of plaudits for his performance as he continues to resurrect his career at Dortmund.
The winger returned to Germany on loan in January following a public falling out with United boss Erik ten Hag and it remains to be seen what the future holds for him. When asked if he will remain at Dortmund next season, Sancho replied: "Who me? I really don't know? I'm just focused on the present right now."
Ten Hag's own future is also in doubt, having failed to build on a promising first season in charge. United missing out on Champions League football is a huge blow to the club and new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has refused to give Ten Hag his public backing since taking charge of football operations.
"I'm not going to comment on Erik ten Hag because it would be inappropriate to do that," Ratcliffe said back in February. "But if you look at the 11 years that have gone since David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson have stepped down, there have been a whole series of coaches, some of which were very good.
"And none of them were successful, or survived for very long. And you can't blame all the coaches. The only conclusion you can draw is that the environment in which they were working, didn't work."
The likes of Gareth Southgate, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter have all been linked with a potential move to Old Trafford and recent reports claim that 'extensive deliberations' are ongoing about his future.
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