“It has been a more or less equitable draw. Napoli has a similar level to ours. Let's see how we are in February," sources from FC Barcelona pointed out when they learned that the Italian team will be the rival in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Classified as first in the group, Barcelona will play the first leg on February 21 at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium and the second leg on March 12 at the Lluís Companys.
The Blaugrana first team followed the draw from the changing rooms of the sports city after finishing the morning training. Along with the players were coach Xavi Hernández and the coaching staff. But no one else. Sports director Deco was representing the club in Nyon along with director Joan Soler, while president Joan Laporta and sports vice president Rafa Yuste were in the club offices. Nobody denied that it could have been better – the desired ones were PSV Eindhoven and Copenhagen – but also worse, since Luis Enrique's PSG and Simone Inzaghi's Inter were avoided.
Xavi Hernández still remembers that a defeat at the Giuseppe Meazza and a draw at the Camp Nou pushed his team last year, and for the second year in a row, to hell in the Europa League. For him it was his first big setback as Barça coach. “But this year we are in the round of 16. The assessment is that it is good to return here and not enter the second round, with those from the Europa League,” recalled Deco, Barcelona's sports director, who made his debut as an institutional representative in Nyon. “The last time I came was as a player,” he recalled.
He then analyzed the Italian rival: “There are no easy rivals in the Champions League, everyone is here for something. It will be difficult because Naples is the current champion of Serie A. But we are champions of the League,” he recalled, endorsing one of the messages that president Joan Laporta intones through the halls of the club demanding unity, calming spirits and closing rows around coach Xavi Hernández. The aim is to transmit the stability and confidence that the coach demands so much after the defeat against Girona and the draw in Valencia. Everyone wants to advance sportingly but also economically.
From the club's offices they also remember that if Barcelona manages to eliminate Naples and qualify for the quarterfinals, they will meet the planned budget by earning another 10.6 million euros.
“We have to see in February how Barça arrives. What you cannot expect is to kill someone in the month of November or December. They have come first in a complicated group,” stressed Txiki Begiristain, now technical secretary of the current Champions League champion, Manchester City. Guardiola's team was undoubtedly the luckiest of the draw as it was paired with Cinderella: Copenhagen. In this campaign the Danish team has survived in a very complicated group, in which it was only surpassed in the table by Bayern Munich, which was paired with the Italian Lazio. “Copenhagen must have done something right. They finished second in the group, leaving out Manchester United and Galatasaray,” insisted the always cautious Txiki Begiristain.
At the opposite pole to City is Real Sociedad. Their good football will come up against the theoretical potential of PSG, the rival that none of the Spaniards wanted. Luis Enrique's team, with the feared Kylian Mbappé, has not had a brilliant first stretch of the season and went through notable difficulties to finish second in its group. “We didn't want it but what are we going to do to it. We will try to beat them. The pressure is undoubtedly on PSG,” said the president of the San Sebastian club, Jokin Aperribay.
Real Madrid was luckier, as they were able to avoid a meeting with Mbappé, their eternal fantasy. He was paired with German team Leipzig. “They will be two attractive games because they have an offensive mentality. We will have the return at the Santiago Bernabéu, with all that that means...,” said Emilio Butragueño, director of institutional relations at Real Madrid.
Their neighbor, Atlético de Madrid, was not one of the luckiest either. They will face Inter, European runners-up and current leader of Serie A. “It is a difficult opponent but we will be fine in February. We will go out to win,” said Enrique Cerezo, president of Atlético. Completing the round of 16 are Porto, who will face Arsenal, and PSV Eindhoven, who eight years later will play in the round of 16 against Borussia Dortmund.
