Barcelona have now discovered their opponents for the round of 16 of the Champions League, with their potential route to the final in Budapest now mapped out.
The permutations to European glory has excited fans particularly as Barcelona have already beaten their opponents early on in the League stage of the Champions League.
The two-leg Round of 16 will be against Premier League side Newcastle United, after Eddie Howe’s team beat Qarabag 9-3 on aggregate to advance. Barcelona avoided the trickier of the two possible ties, with Paris Saint-Germain facing Chelsea in the other half of the bracket.
Barcelona's potential route to the Champions League final
The quarter-final schedule will be between domestic rivals Atletico Madrid or Tottenham Hotspur should the Catalans make it past Newcastle.
Quarter Finals
Should Atlético prevail, Barcelona will aim to overcome their inconsistent performance against them over the past two seasons. They will face Simeone and his team in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final this week, coming off a 4-0 loss from the first leg. However, a 3-1 victory in La Liga at Camp Nou earlier in the season demonstrates the potential for a comeback.
They will be favorites to overcome Tottenham in the potential clash on April 6/8, with the return leg scheduled for a week later.
While Tottenham’s Premier League form has been underwhelming, their Champions League campaign tells a different story. Having navigated the league phase with relative ease to finish fourth, Spurs look like a different animal in Europe. Igor Tudor now steps in to build upon the foundation laid by Thomas Frank, leaning on a squad that will draw from their recent Europa League glory to fuel this knockout charge.
Semi-finals
The semi-finals will present a tougher challenge for Barcelona, but they will still fancy their chances against the clubs in the bottom half of their bracket.
The strongest contender is Arsenal, who are favored to overcome Bayer Leverkusen and the winner of the match between Bodø/Glimt and Sporting Lisbon. They topped the league phase with a perfect record and this could be Barcelona’s first meeting against a Champions League favourite.
Having dismantled their Portuguese counterparts 5-1 last year, Arsenal holds the historical edge, and now the arrival of Victor Gyökeres has shifted the odds even more in Arsenal’s favor.
The path to the knockouts saw Sporting brush aside Olympiacos, while Bodø/Glimt pulled off a stunning upset against Inter Milan to become the first Norwegian club to make the cut. Looking ahead, Barcelona will be rooting for a Sporting victory; they’d much rather face the warmth of Lisbon than a daunting away leg in the Norwegian cold, if it wasn’t to be Arsenal’s tournament.
Final
The final two sides are set to meet in a spectacle that will captivate the continent. Should Barcelona progress, predicting a favorite becomes nearly impossible, as the heavyweights are concentrated on the opposite side of the bracket.
Powerhouses Real Madrid and Manchester City, along with reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain and Club World Cup holders Chelsea, comprise a series of mouth-watering Round of 16 ties. With Bayern Munich and Liverpool also looming on this side of the draw, any of these giants could realistically reach the final