This Friday (1pm) FC Barcelona will meet its first rivals in the defense of the European throne. The current champions are seeded in the group stage draw, sharing the hype with Olympique Lyonnais, Bayern and Chelsea. The Blaugrana will thus avoid the three strongest rivals, in addition to Wolfsburg, current European runners-up. The Germans starred in the bombshell of the previous rounds, falling at the hands of Paris FC, which has also been Arsenal’s executioner. Barça will not be able to face Real Madrid either, as it is a team from the same federation.
Thus, the most complicated rival that awaits Jonatan Giráldez’s team is Paris Saint-German. The French, one of the rivals they have faced the most in Europe, share the hype with Slavia Prague, Rosengård and Real Madrid.
Two old acquaintances and two undiscovered rivals await in Pot 3. Benfica and Roma were already Barça’s rivals last season and against the Portuguese, in which former Blaugrana Andrea Sánchez Falcón now plays, they achieved the biggest European win in their history, a 9-0 at the Johan Cruyff. On the other hand, they could face two rivals they have never faced, Austrian St. Pölten and Swedish Häcken.
The fourth and last pot includes the rivals with the worst coefficient, but who should not be trusted. Barça has never played against any of them. But Paris FC, third in the French league, has already shown by eliminating giants like Arsenal and Wolfsburg that they are here to compete. In addition to the Parisian team, Ajax, Eintracht Frankfurt and Norwegian Brann complete the hype.
The group stage will be played between November and January with home and away matches. In each group there will be one team from each of the pots, so Barça has eleven possible rivals, ruling out only the four with which it shares the pot and Real Madrid for being Spanish. The eight qualifiers will play the quarterfinals in March, the semifinals will be in April and the grand final on May 24 in San Mamés.
Pot 1 (directly qualified): Barcelona (ESP, current champion), Lyon (FRA), Bayern Munich (ALE), Chelsea (ING)
Bombo 2: Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Slavia de Prague (CHE), Real Madrid (ESP), Rosengård (SUE)
Bombo 3: St. Pölten (AUT), Benfica (POR), Häcken (SUE), Roma (ITA)
Bombo 4: Ajax (HOL), Paris FC (FRA), Eintracht Frankfurt (ALE), Brann (NOR)
