FC Barcelona pretty much knows already who its rivals will be in the Champions League last 16 next … [+]
FC Barcelona pretty much knows already who its rival will be in the Champions League last 16 next month.
In a decade peppered by previous back-to-back failures to make it out of the group stage, Barca did things right this time round by finishing second in the elite European competition’s new-look league phase behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
This meant that unlike bitter rival Real Madrid, which faces English champion Manchester City at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, Hansi Flick’s men did not need to contest a playoff to reach the knockout stage.
While Madrid is winless in three domestic matches and has squandered a previous 10 point advantage over the Catalans at the La Liga summit amid a packed schedule, Barca has benefitted from eight days rest and finally returned to the top of the table with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano on Monday.
Back to Europe, Barca will officially know who it faces in the last 16 once the playoffs have been concluded and the official draw has been made early on Friday afternoon in Europe.
Benfica and an AS Monaco which beat it convincingly in the Joan Gamper Trophy match, and then again in the UCL league phase after Eric Garcia’s red-card reduced the Blaugrana to 10 men, were two candidates.
In Lisbon on Tuesday, however, the Portuguese outfit managed to see off its French opposition with a thrilling 3-3 draw that resulted in a 4-3 win on aggregate overall.
Barca has recent history with Benfica on the continent too. It beat it at the Estadio da Luz via a thrilling 5-4 comeback in January, while Benfica managed knockout phase qualification at Barca’s expense in 2021/2022 when a memorable away victory at Camp Nou helped it finish second to an eliminated Xavi Hernandez side’s third.
Though nothing is 100% guaranteed, we can probably bank on Paris Saint-Germain finishing Brest off on Wednesday because of it nursing a 3-0 advantage from the first leg influenced by an in-form Ousmane Dembele’s brace.
In conclusion then, Barca is definitely looking at a possible date with Benfica or, most probably, its quarterfinal nemesis from last season PSG next up.
