The Norwegian Brann will be FC Barcelona’s rival in the quarterfinals. The current champions will face the most modest team of all and the only one that has never before made it into the 16 best teams in Europe.
It has the lowest coefficient of all those qualified for the group stage and is ranked 64th in the UEFA ranking.
Despite their inexperience, the Norwegian team has managed to leave out two veterans such as Slavia Prague and Sankt Pölten and was able to get a creditable draw (2-2) against the almighty Olympique de Lyon after equaling a 0-2 against. It has two League titles and two Cups under its belt and Andrine Hegerberg, the older sister of Lyon star Ada Hegerberg, plays in its ranks.
The Blaugrana have never faced them, so it will be the first confrontation between both teams. As seeds, the Catalans will play the second leg at the Johan Cruyff. The first leg will be on March 19-20 in Norway and the return leg a week later in the Blaugrana fiefdom. It will be necessary to see if the club opts to play in Montjuïc, or in the Johan Cruyff. In this last scenario, it will be necessary to install the VAR, mandatory from the quarterfinals in Europe.
FC Barcelona is seeking its second consecutive Champions League after becoming champions last year in Eindhoven, after coming back in the final against Wolfsburg. The German team is not among the eight best and for the first time in the history of the Champions League there is no German team in the quarterfinals. A surprising fact considering that it is the country that accumulates the most titles, a total of 9 titles and 8 runners-up divided between Frankfurt (current Eintracht), Turbine Potsdam, Wolfsburg and Duisburg.
If they beat Brann in the quarterfinals, they will face the winner of the tie between Ajax and Chelsea in the semifinals, where they would fight for a ticket in the final on May 25 in San Mamés (Bilbao). In this case the Blaugrana would act as home team in the first leg. Both games will be played at the end of April. If they reach the final, Barça would be home to San Mamés.
Without a doubt, the most unequal tie that the draw has produced has been the one that paired the humble Benfica, the first Portuguese team to reach the quarterfinals, with the almighty Olympique de Lyon, the most successful in the history of the competition. with eight titles in its showcases.
And the last pairing was the one that united the Swedish Häcken with the French PSG. The winner of this tie will face the winner of Benfica-Lyon in the semifinals, so everything indicates that there will be a French derby in the semifinals.
