Barcelona set for Champions League reunion with familiar faces.
The Champions League round-of-16 took place with Barcelona drawing one of last season’s finalists in Paris Saint-Germain.
This marks the fourth time these two sides will face each other in the European competition. The Catalan side have gone through in all of their previous encounters which includes the famous “Remontada” at the Camp Nou.
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The last time Barca won the tournament, back in the 2014-15 edition, PSG were one of the teams they had to get through on their way to the title in Berlin.
Perhaps more importantly, it marks the return of Neymar to Barcelona since leaving for PSG prior to the the 2017-18 season.
Since then, Neymar remains as the one that got away as none of the players the club have signed since then have come close to replacing the contributions of the Brazilian.
Neymar has made no secret that he wants to reunite with Lionel Messi and recently stated in an interview that he hopes to make that dream a reality come next season.
It is not out of the realm of possibility that Messi could even be a PSG player by the time these two teams face off. The Argentine is free to negotiate with other teams at the start of the new year.
With his contract expiring, the club need to. make a decision on whether to do whatever they can to convince him to stay, sell him to get a fee or risk losing him for nothing at the end of the season.
Off the pitch, the relationship between the two sides is frosty at best with failed negotiations over Neymar the past couple of seasons. When PSG pried Neymar away, it was seen as a retaliation for Barcelona wanting their player, Marco Verratti.
All things considered, the draw could have been much worse for Barcelona. They managed to avoid the likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City.
However, PSG are favorites heading into their match-up given their respective forms with Barça struggling under Ronald Koeman.
Plenty can change, however, between now and the time these two teams face off. Their fortunes could be entirely different when that time comes.
The first leg is set to take place at the Camp Nou on Feb. 16 with the return leg at the Parc Des Princes on March 10.