Barcelona to face FC Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals
When Barcelona was knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, everyone was shocked. The team that had once conquered the world was demoted to the second-tier European competition but what was worse was that the team did not even look good enough to win the Europa. The team was disorientated, had just gone through a managerial change. Xavi Hernandez had a lot of new plans but there was not enough time to implement them and their first match was going to be against the Italian giants Napoli. The first leg was a tight 1-1 draw but Barca completely blew the Italians out of the water in the second leg.
Thus, after the Napoli game, Barca were the favourites again. This time, however, Galatasary proved to be a tough opponent and a narrow 2-1 win in the second game was required for the Catalans to go through. They are now unbeaten in their last eleven games and it seems as if the Blaugrana are really getting used to the new tactics and philosophy implemented by Xavi. They will now face FC Frankfurt who defeated Real Betis in the Round of 16 and also finished at the top of their group. In the Bundesliga however, they are not doing that well and they currently sit in 9th position.
Barcelona will be hoping to defeat Frankfurt easily and move on to the semi-finals
Barcelona should be able to win this game without much trouble however, with so much pressure on the shoulders of the young squad, there could be some costly mistakes made. Frankfurt will also try their best to not let the dangermen such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres and Ousmane Dembele get involved in the game too much. It could be a tight game however if Xavi manages to read the team out in the first leg, the Catalans could easily win the tie in the second leg.
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The first leg will be held in Germany and Barca might succumb to a draw away from their home. However, at Camp Nou, Frankfurt stands little chance and it will be extremely shocking to see them beat the Catalans in their own home ground.