La Liga giants Barcelona want their Champions League R16 second-leg fixture shifted from scheduled Mar 17 to Mar 18. The reason behhind their rare request is the FC Barcelona’s residential elections on March 15. On the very same day, Barcelona are scheduled to play against Sevilla but the match has an asterisk against it in the official schedule with the option of getting shifted to Saturday (Mar 14). There’s been no official confirmation on Barcelona’s request as of now. The Spanish giants play their first-leg match in Champions League R16 away from home on March 10 after finishing in top 8 on the points table.
Who will Barcelona play in R16 Champions League
As per the current situation, Newcastle or Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) could face Barcelona in the R16. Newcastle have already won their playoffs against Qarabag, beating them 3-2 in second leg on Tuesday (Feb 24) for an aggregate 9-3 victory. PSG, meanwhile face Monaco on Thursday (Feb 25) after beating them 3-2 in the first leg. The draw for R16 will take place on Friday (Feb 27) at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland after the playoff matches are over on Thursday.
Barcelona, having finished in top 8 in league stage, will have the luxury of playing second leg at home Camp Nou once their opponent is decided after the R16, quarter-final, and semis draw is done.
How does Champions League R16, QF and SF draw work?
As per the UEFA official website, all the teams “are paired based on their positions at the end of the league phase to form four seeded pairs (clubs in positions 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8).”
“The clubs in each seeded pair are drawn into one of two positions in the round of 16 against the relevant winners of the knockout phase play-offs, whose position is determined by the knockout phase play-off draw.
Four bowls are prepared for the draw, with the balls containing the names of each pair of seeded teams placed in the corresponding marked bowls according to the league rankings.
The draw will allocate the side of the bracket for all the seeded teams, starting with the teams ranked 7/8 and finishing with the teams ranked 1/2.
One ball is taken from the bowl containing the two relevant ranked teams (i.e. the teams ranked 7 and 8) and opened to display the team. The first team drawn from this bowl is placed in their reserved spot on the silver side of the bracket. The other seeded team of the pairing is then drawn and displayed, then allocated to the corresponding reserved spot on the blue side of the bracket. The same procedure is carried out with the remaining seeded teams.”
