Barca vs Napoli in Europa League

Falling down from the Champions League, Barca had difficulty again when paired with Napoli in the knockout round of the Europa League, according to the draw results in Nyon on December 13.

From this year, the Europa League will no longer have a round of 16, because the number of clubs participating in the group stage has decreased from 48 to 32. Therefore, Barca, Dortmund and the teams that have dropped from the Champions League will play play-offs with eight second-placed teams. Europa League. From there, eight teams entered the 1/8 round, along with the eight top teams in the group stage of this tournament.

The lucky draw brought Barca - the third E Champions League team - to meet Napoli in the play-off match. This is the first time Barca has been eliminated in the Champions League group stage since the 2000-2001 season. At that time, they also ranked third and dropped to the UEFA Cup - the predecessor tournament of the Europa League, when behind Milan and Leeds United. The Camp Nou team has also never been crowned after 11 times attending the UEFA Cup.

The match between Barca and Napoli is also associated with the name of the late legendary Diego Maradona. When playing for Barca between 1982-1984, he won a King's Cup, a Spanish Super Cup and a League Cup. After that, Maradona went to Napoli, and helped this club win Serie A in two seasons 1986-1987, 1989-1990, won the 1986-1987 Italian Cup, 1988-1989 UEFA Cup and 1990 Italian Super Cup.

Napoli's home ground is now called Diego-Armando-Maradona - changed from the old name San Paolo. This is also the place where the second leg between Barca and Napoli will take place on February 24, 2022. A week earlier, the two teams will play the first leg at Camp Nou.

Another Spanish representative also dropped from the Champions League - Sevilla will face Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb. Unlike Barca, Sevilla is a regular guest of the Europa League - where they hold a record of six crowns, in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020. Championship candidate Dortmund meets the Scottish champion Rangers, while Atalanta played against Greek representative Olympiakos.

An hour after the Europa League draw, UEFA drew the Europa Conference League play-off round. Leicester - the Premier League representative dropped from the Europa League - will meet Randers. This is the first time this Danish club has reached the continental playground.

Tottenham was still present at the ceremony, when UEFA was trying to arrange a match for this team with Rennes. In the event that the match goes on, and Tottenham beat Rennes, Antonio Conte's teachers and students will meet Rapid Wien in the play-off round.

The first legs of these two tournaments will be played on February 17, 2022, and the return legs will take place a week later. A notable change in the knockout round of European cups from this year is that UEFA has removed the away goals rule that has existed since 1965. If matches end in a draw after two legs, two The team will have to play two extra periods of 15 minutes each, then penalty kicks if still tied.