In order to advance to the competition’s round of 16, Barcelona and Manchester United will face off in the Europa League play-offs.
In the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals, Spanish team Barcelona faced the 2017 Europa League champions twice and prevailed on both occasions, while United fell short in the two legs of their 2018-19 European Cup quarterfinal encounter.
This season, Real Sociedad, another Spanish team, finished second in United’s Europa League group. United will face Barca, a team that missed the last 16 of the Champions League after coming third in its group behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
Eight third-place teams from the Champions League group stages take against eight group runners-up from the Europa League, with the winners of the two-leg play-offs moving on to the round of 16.
The best of the other matches pits six-time champion Sevilla against PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands, Serie A powerhouse Juventus against Nantes, and Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma against RB Salzburg.
United in Europa League playoffs
The ties’ first legs will begin on February 16, and the second leg will follow a week later on February 23.
In a thrilling 3-3 tie in September 1998 at Old Trafford, Xavi made his Champions League debut under Louis van Gaal. Last year, he returned to his childhood team to succeed Ronald Koeman as manager.
Last year, Barca was matched with Napoli in the Europa League after being eliminated from the Champions League group stage. Xavi concurred that they had again been dealt the toughest team at the same level.
Frenkie de Jong, a midfielder for Barcelona who rejected a summer transfer to Manchester United, is scheduled to visit Manchester, adding excitement to the match. De Jong’s deferred salary proved to be an insurmountable obstacle, as the player publicly stated his decision to stay in Catalonia, despite United and Barcelona having reached an agreement on a €85 million transfer fee.
In his final game for Barcelona on Sunday, former United defender Gerard Pique announced his retirement from the sport last week.