That's one way of looking at it, and it certainly makes the most sense from the avenue you approach the sport - wagers. League play wouldn't have the big exciting playoff - the championship game so it would seem less important. But here is the thing - UEFA cups are just that - CUPS. There is a very large dose of luck of the draw thrown in. A team can potentially make it to the final having not played any of the "great" teams. At the same time a great team may be knocked out early on by simply having a bad night. Teams often play different tactics in the tournament because of that risk. It is overly defensive and often fails to produce exciting games. But it is a glamour event and gets a lot of attention.
League play is about quality and consistency. Each team plays every other team twice - home and away. Those that play the best throughout the season rise to the top. There is no chance of a lucky or unlucky draw deciding the title holder. Inevitably a couple of teams of the highest quality end up battling it out over the last few weeks.
Anyway, rankings can be misleading - afterall the US national team rose something like 20 places a couple of years ago without even playing a game during that timeframe.
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This is why we have so many favorites loosing to small teams, especialy when the CL is coming down to its end.
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This phenomenon makes perfect sense when you realize that the big teams are expected to produce silverware every year. When they get towards the end of the campaign they have to prioritize. Liverpool for instance is never in the running for the League, so they rest players during league games and pin ALL their hopes for glory on the CL.