Champions League draw: Barcelona to face Napoli in pick of the last 16 ties
By Matias Grez, CNN
(CNN) — Barcelona will face Napoli in the most intriguing clash of the Champions League round of 16 draw, while defending champion Manchester City will take on Danish side FC Copenhagen.
It will likely be a tough test for an out of sorts Barcelona team that has won just twice in its past six games, suffering surprise defeats to Antwerp and Shakhtar Donetsk during the group stages.
However, Napoli has also endured a difficult start to the season and currently sits fifth in Serie A, while the team – led by newly-appointed head coach Walter Mazzarri – qualified in a distant second place to Real Madrid.
City, meanwhile, will face a Copenhagen side making its first appearance in the last 16 of the Champions League since the 2010-11 season.
Pep Guardiola’s team has been well below its superlative best this season, languishing fifth in the English Premier League. Despite its domestic struggles, City still reached the knockout stages with six wins from six, though it was made to struggle in victories over RB Leipzig and Red Star Belgrade.
Real Sociedad’s reward for finishing top of its group ahead of last season’s finalist Inter Milan is a meeting with Paris Saint-Germain. The Spanish club has been arguably the stand-out performer of the tournament so far, remaining undefeated.
PSG has improved considerably since its early season struggles, but the team only qualified for the last 16 by the skin of its teeth after failing to win any of its final three group stage matches. If there was ever a tie ripe for an upset, it’s this one.
Fourteen-time winner Real Madrid has been handed a tricky tie against an RB Leipzig team that is always a threat, but Los Blancos – led by English superstar Jude Bellingham – have been their imperious selves so far with six wins from six, even if the team has played below its best at times.
Leipzig finished a comfortable second behind City, winning its four other games outside of two defeats to the English club. Leipzig, however, did push City all the way at the Etihad as Guardiola’s side had to come from two goals down to win the game.
Playing in the Champions League for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Arsenal breezed through its group after stumbling early in a surprise defeat to Lens. Mikel Arteta’s side has managed the demands of European and domestic competitions well so far, returning to the top of the Premier League after a win over Brighton on Sunday.
Arsenal is likely to face a stern test against Porto, which only narrowly missed out on top spot in its group to Barcelona and earned a decisive victory over Shakhtar in the final group game, despite going behind in controversial circumstances.
The first and second legs of the round of 16 ties will take place on February 13 and March 5.
This season is the last that the Champions League will use the current group stage format, next season switching to a single league table that will determine qualification for the knockout stages.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
