Bournemouth in Europe for first time - but Champions League still on

Bournemouth in Europe for first time - but Champions League still onImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Junior Kroupi's goal for Bournemouth against Manchester City secured the Cherries' place in EuropeByDale JohnsonFootball issues correspondentPublished4 minutes agoBournemouth might have been denied victory at home to Manchester City because of Erling Haaland's late equaliser, but the Cherries still had plenty to cheer.Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Vitality Stadium confirmed that Bournemouth will be playing European football next season for the first time.That will at least be in the Europa League, but they still have two possible routes to the Champions League.The first will be opened up should Aston Villa beat Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday night.Then, if the Villans finish fifth in the Premier League, Unai Emery's side will qualify for the Champions League as the Europa League winners.The extra place in the Champions League that the Premier League earned through the European Performance spot would go to the team finishing sixth.To finish fifth, Villa would need to lose at Manchester City, and Liverpool win at home to Brentford.If Bournemouth avoid defeat at Nottingham Forest, or Brighton fail to win at home to Manchester United, the Cherries would finish sixth and play among Europe's elite next season.There are a couple of other routes, too.If Liverpool lose, then Bournemouth could overtake them on goal difference. That would probably require a swing of at least seven goals - so Liverpool to lose 3-0 and Bournemouth to win 4-0.But how about an end-of-season play-off to decide the final place in the Champions League?That could happen if Liverpool lost 1-0 to the Bees, and Bournemouth won 5-0 at Forest. Goals scored and goals conceded would be identical, head-to-head points would both be three, while they each scored twice away from home against each other.Boats, fire and a TikTok song - inside Arsenal's title winP...