FC Barcelona fail to extend 17-year streak in Champions League last sixteen

FC Barcelona failed to achieve the vital goal of beating Bayern Munich and coupled with Benfica’s win over Dynamo Kyiv it means theywill not be among the sixteen teams going into the draw for the last sixteen of the Champions League. It’s not a situation Culers are familiar with.

After 17 years of always at least making it into the knockout phase, Barça will be watching from outside in 2022. The last time that happened was way back in the 2003/04 season, when Barça had only finished sixth in La Liga and competed instead in the UEFA Cup.

New goal: Seville

The UEFA Cup has since been revamped as the Europa League, and as they finished third in their Champions League group, that’s where Barça will be playing from February. At least in its new guise, it’s a competition the Catalans have never played in, and hence have not won either, and Monday 13, Xavi Hernández will be learning who his team will be meeting.

What Barça already know for sure is that will be playing one of the teams that finished second in the Europa League group stage, although they cannot play any sides from La Liga (Real Betis and possibly Real Sociedad).

Going into the final round of matches, the only team that is a potential opponent for sure is Glasgow Rangers.

Teams that could still potentially finish second in their Europa League groups are: PSV Eindhoven, Leicester City, Spartak Moscow, Napoli, Legia Warsaw, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade, Braga, Midtjylland, Dynamo Zagreb and Genk.

There are four rounds to negotiate en route to a potential final in Seville on 18 May 2022..