Flick’s Barça already knows its path in the Champions: PSG, City, Fàbregas’ Como, and a trip to Baku

The Champions League begins. Barça learned this afternoon about its eight rivals in the league phase of the top continental competition, which it has not won since 2015 and aims to conquer in Hansi Flick’s third year leading the blaugrana team. More experienced, more mature, and with the same enthusiasm as always.

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The draw, which marks the start of the journey to the Metropolitano final on June 5, was held from 18:00 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. It determined that Barcelona will host Manchester City, Aston Villa, Feyenoord, and Como, the team of Cesc Fàbregas, at Spotify Camp Nou.

Away from home, Barça will travel to Paris to face Luis Enrique’s PSG, the reigning European champion who has also just signed Ferran Torres; to Lisbon to face Sporting Portugal; to Turkey, where Galatasaray awaits; and to Baku to visit the exotic Sabah in the longest trip of the league phase. The first matchday will be played from September 8 to 10.

The blaugrana team will face Manchester City: The main rival from pot 1. A team entering a new era after Pep Guardiola’s departure and Enzo Maresca’s arrival on the bench. It remains one of the top title contenders, and the clash at Camp Nou will be one of the highlights of this first phase.

But above all, the main highlight will be the visit to Paris to face PSG. The reigning European champion for the second time and probably the most formidable opponent on Barça’s calendar. The Parisian team, captained by Luis Enrique and featuring former blaugrana Ousmane Dembélé, Ballon d’Or winner in the last edition, seeks to maintain its continental dominance. Additionally, Parc des Princes has been the new home of Valencian Ferran Torres since this summer.

Pot 2 included heavyweight names like Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting Portugal, Aston Villa, Porto, and Manchester United, as well as Betis, PSV, and Club Brugge. Barça could not face the verdiblanco team due to the restriction preventing matches between teams from the same country in this phase. They will finally travel to Lisbon to face the Portuguese champion. Sporting remains prominent in Portugal and usually competes well in Europe.

Flick’s team will host the always demanding and well-organized Aston Villa of Unai Emery, which has established itself among the English elite and arrives at the Champions League after winning the Europa League. A physical, competitive rival with European experience.

Pot 3 also offered opponents of varying difficulty. Napoli, RB Leipzig, Feyenoord, Lille, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Villarreal, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Bodø/Glimt formed a group in which Italian, German, and Dutch teams stand out. A match against Villarreal was also not possible due to the same restriction between Spanish clubs.

Galatasaray, where Gündogan still plays, was the opponent drawn for Barcelona. The match will be played in Turkey, at the RAMS Park stadium (formerly known as Nef Stadium or Türk Telekom Arena) in Istanbul, with a capacity of nearly 54,000 people. The Turkish champion is a team with a great continental tradition, and the atmosphere in their stadium makes every visit a test of character.

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Flick’s team will also face Giovanni van Bronckhorst ‘Gio’s Feyenoord, one of the historic teams of Dutch football. The Rotterdam team brings intensity, pace, and a particularly demanding atmosphere in their home matches, although in this case Barça will be the host.

Pot 4 was, on paper, the one offering the most accessible rivals, although it also hid some traps: Slavia Prague, Stuttgart, LASK, Como, Lens, Sabah, AEK Athens, Viking, and Slovan Bratislava. Como, led by Cesc Fàbregas, was the team drawn for Barcelona and will visit Camp Nou in a particularly attractive match due to the Catalan coach’s ties with Barça, where he was a player.

Fàbregas trained at La Masia from 1997 to 2003 before moving to England to play for Chelsea, and returned to Barcelona on August 15, 2011, from Arsenal. He played 151 official matches with the first team and scored 42 goals. During his time as a blaugrana, he won a La Liga, a Copa del Rey, a UEFA Super Cup, a Club World Cup, and two Spanish Super Cups.

In the corridors of the blaugrana club, they closely follow his progress and consider him a possible alternative for the Barça bench once he gains more experience. The Italian team faces its first-ever participation in the league phase of the top continental competition.

But undoubtedly, the Baku team will be the most exotic opponent on the calendar and also one of the debutants in the league phase. Barça will have to face the long trip to Azerbaijan on one of the competition days.

The new format requires Barça to play eight matches, four at home and four away, against eight different opponents. The top eight in the standings will advance directly to the round of 16, while teams ranked ninth to twenty-fourth will have to play a playoff.

Hansi Flick’s Barça finished among the top eight in the first two editions (second in 24-25 and fifth in 25-26) and thus avoided the extra round. Now they want to repeat the path in the third edition of this new format, so attractive that it has won over fans and eliminated the Super League. And, of course, the coach, club, and squad want to win it in the final on June 5 at the Metropolitano. The home of Atlético de Madrid, which will host for the second time, after hosting in 2019, when Liverpool defeated Tottenham (2-0).

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