Barcelona is in an Italian test with its first participation in the European League in 18 years
Barcelona fans will be satisfied with watching their team play in the European League for the first time in 18 years, when the Catalan club hosts Napoli tomorrow at its Camp Nou stadium in the strongest first leg of the qualifying playoffs to the final price round, in its quest to regain its European standing.
The clubs that ranked third in the group stage of the Champions League and those that finished second in their groups in the "European League" will participate in this supplement, with the return matches to be held on the 24th of this month.
The Catalan club was eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League with a bitter harvest: two goals in 6 matches, 9 in the net and third place with 7 points from two wins.
A draw and 3 defeats, while the return of Xavi Hernandez to take over the technical matters did not satisfy Barcelona's hopes in the continental competition that crowned the title five times.
Barcelona, which is fourth in La Liga, 15 points behind its rivals, Real Madrid, has played the knockout stages of the parent competition in the past 17 seasons, and the last time it missed was in the 2003-2004 season when it participated and exited from the round of 16 of the European Union Cup (Europe). League currently) against Celtic.
The confrontation with Napoli, the rival for the “Serie A” title, which has only conceded 17 times in 25 matches, is an ideal opportunity for the Catalans to enter the atmosphere of competition at the highest levels, and to repeat the previous confrontation between them two years ago in the round of 16 of the Champions League, which ended with qualification. Blaugrana won 4-2 on aggregate.
Barcelona hopes to regain its lost dignity on the European arena when it faces the southern club in the playoffs, in its quest to reach the final to be held in Seville next May.
Barcelona was not the only long-standing name to leave the group stage, but it was also accompanied by German Borussia Dortmund, who in turn will compete in the "Europe League".
The draw resulted in the German club facing the Scottish champion Glasgow Rangers, where the "Signal Iduna Park" stadium will be the first chapter of a confrontation in which the fans are eager to see the Norwegian striker Erling Halland present in the ranks of the "black and yellow" team.
Haaland scored 23 goals in 21 games in various competitions this season, but he missed Dortmund in the last two matches in the "Bundesliga" against Bayer Leverkusen (2-5 loss) and Union Berlin (3-0 win) due to injury.
On the other hand, the Spanish club, Seville, who is out of the group stage of the Champions League, is not afraid to move to a competition that he won or the previous version under the name of the Federation Cup, six times, the last of which is in 2020, in a record number in the history of this competition.
Seville has a chance to reach the final, which will be held at its stadium, "Ramon Sanches Bisjuan", if he manages to get rid of the Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb in the play-offs.
Italy's Atalanta hosts Olympiacos of Greece, and Leipzig of Germany hosts Real Sociedad of Spain.
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