Barcelona: All Possible Play Off Opponents as Catalan Giants Slip to Europa League

• Lazio is among the clubs Barcelona could face in the Europa League round of 32 playoffs
• Teams that finish third in the Champions League will play runners up in the Europa League groups
• Group winners automatically earn a slot in the last 16 and will await the draw on February 25
• The draw takes place on Monday, December 13 at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland

Barcelona have learnt of their possible opponents in the Europa League knock out stages.

The Catalan giants find themselves in unfamiliar territory after a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, who had nothing to play for in the Champions League relegated them to the second-tier European competition.

It will be a huge adjustment for Xavi and his wards, as the last time Barcelona were not in the knockout of the Champions League was in the 2003-04 campaign, which was also their last season in the Uefa Cup/Europa League.

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And the last time they failed to get past the group stage altogether was in the year 2000 when Leeds United finished above them in their group.

Their current reality is the Europa League, and Xavi will have to do his best to salvage a season that looks like it is in tatters.

Barca’s possible opponents

After Thursday’s Europa League group games were concluded, Barcelona finally learnt the possible opponents for the knockouts.

Real Sociedad and Real Betis, both of whom proceeded to the next stage, cannot be drawn against Barca since they all play in the La Liga.

That leaves only six possible opponents for the Catalan giants: Rangers FC (Scotland), Napoli (Italy), Olympiacos (Greece), Lazio (Italy), Braga (Portugal) and Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia).

Why those opponents? How it works

The Europa League knockouts is quite interesting as it usually involves ‘guest teams’ from the Champions League.

Barcelona’s Possible Last Round of 32 Opponents As Catalan Giants Slip to Europa League

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Teams that finished third in their respective groups in the Champions League will face any of the sides that finished second in their Europa League groups.

Meanwhile, the eight teams who won their groups in the Europa League will automatically advance to the last 16 and await their opponents.

Those eight Europa League group winners are: Lyon, Monaco, Spartak Moscow, Eintracht Frankfurt, Galatasaray, Red Star Belgrade, Bayer Leverkusen.

Other teams that slipped to the Europa League from the Champions League thanks to a third-place finish in the groups include RB Leipzig, Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Sheriff Tiraspol, Atalanta and Zenit.

If Barcelona manage to edge their playoff opponents, they will endure another draw on February 25 to learn who they will face in the last 16.

Meanwhile, Leicester City, who finished third in their Europa League group, have been relegated to the third-tier Europa Conference League.

You can learn how the Conference League works here.