The numbers say that after two seasons evicted from the Champions League and forced to go through the Europa League, Barcelona will be in Nyon today in the pot of the draw for the round of 16 of the top continental competition scheduled for 12:00 p.m. He will also do so as seeded, a position that guarantees him playing the second leg in Montjuïc scheduled for March 5,6,12 or 13. The first leg will be played on February 13, 14, 20 or 21.
The Blaugrana club, which will be represented by sports director Deco and sports commission member Joan Soler, has seven possible rivals. The most feared are Inter Milan and PSG. Without a doubt a confrontation with the Parisian team, which suffered until the last minute to qualify, would be the most morbid. Messi is not there. Neither does Neymar. But Kylian Mbappé, their great star who already has 18 goals in all competitions. Barça would also reunite with Dembélé, the winger who decided to exchange Barcelona and Xavi’s trust for Paris and his money. He has only scored one goal in all competitions. He is trained by another old acquaintance: Luis Enrique Martínez.
Inter Milan would not be an easy rival either. Although Real Sociedad has been superior to the Italian team, Inter is the current runner-up in Europe and leads the Italian Serie A. Barça already crossed paths with them last year in the group stage. A defeat at the Giuseppe Meazza and a draw at the Camp Nou pushed Xavi’s men to hell in the Europa League. Lukaku is no longer there but his coach is, the Italian Simone Inzaghi, and the Argentine Lautaro Martínez who is in great form with two goals in the group stage.
The rival with the highest percentage of chances of winning against Barça is RB Leipzig, since they can only face Arsenal and the other three Spanish teams (Real Madrid, Atlético and Real Sociedad). He is third in the Bundesliga and hopes to recover Dani Olmo for the Champions League, with a sprained shoulder that forced him to undergo surgery at the end of October.
Napoli would be in the same ranking, although they have lost the strength that made them win Serie A last season. Fourth in the table, they have already replaced their coach Rudi Garcia with Walter Mazzarri. But it still retains its two main figures: forwards Victor Osimhen with eight goals and Kvaratskhelia, with four. There is another Italian team: Lazio, where Pedro Rodríguez plays. Although Lazio was surpassed by Atlético de Madrid in the group stage and moves through the middle of the table (it is tenth) its coach, Maurizio Sarri, pointed out that he wanted play against Barcelona.
An a priori more affordable rival would be PSV Eindhoven. Barça would meet again there with Sergiño Dest, a winger on loan because he did not fit in with Xavi’s Barça and who has played 17 games as a starter. Also with striker Luuk de Jong, scorer of 10 goals in the Eredivisie and another seven in the Champions League. But without a doubt the sweet expert is Copenhagen. The Danish club managed to qualify for the round of 16 13 years later with a squad that has the second smallest market value of the entire group stage (66.35 million euros) and facing Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Manchester United. In a team where the collective prevails over individuals, the goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, Roony Bardghjil, the pearl that the greats of Europe are chasing, and Jordan Larsson, the son of Henrik Larsson, stand out. They are fourth in their league
