The Spanish sides will not have an easy time of it if they wish to make it past the Champions League round of 16. While Real Madrid will fancy their chances against RB Leipzig, the likes of Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, and Real Sociedad will have a harder time of it. The three sides will face Napoli, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
UEFA once again gathered at their headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, to carry out the Champions League round of 16 draw on Monday. The Spanish teams, who all finished first in their groups, have perhaps come away from the draw with the worst possible outcome, as they are set to face some of the European heavy hitters.
Starting with Real Sociedad, after a historic group stage, where they finished first above Inter Milan on goal difference and eight points clear of Benfica, who finished third, the Basque side will have to beat the formidable PSG if they want to progress further. PSG is the club that everyone wanted to avoid, but the lot has fallen on La Real. While the French side have certainly been in poor form, they have individuals capable of creating moments of magic, which in the knock-outs is sometimes all you need. However, after impressive performances against Inter Milan, the Spanish side will certainly have hopes of getting a positive result and will be looking forward to playing the second leg at home.
Speaking of Inter Milan, Diego Simeone is set to return to the club where he used to play as his Atlético Madrid side will take on the Italia side. Inter Milan are having an impressive Seria A campaign where they are comfortably first on 41 points, four points ahead of Juventus in second. They are undoubtedly one of the best teams in Europe at the moment, but so are Atlético Madrid. While the Spanish sides have had patchy moments in La Liga, they will be confident of going through to the next round after comfortably finishing top of their group.
Real Madrid, 14-time winners of the competition, will likely be the happiest of the Spanish sides as they are set to play German side RB Leipzig. However, while RB Leipzig looks like an easier draw on paper, Real Madrid did lose to the German side 3-2 last year in the group stages, so they are a potential banana peel. RB Leipzig have also run Manchester City very close this year in their group, narrowly losing out twice to the current holders. With the impressive form of Xavi Simons, Loïs Openda, and with Dani Olmo set to be fit for the fixtures, they will certainly be no pushovers.
Finally, we have Barcelona, who have drawn the Serie A holders Napoli. Both teams are going through a difficult period at the moment, but overall, Barcelona look to be in a better position to qualify. After Luciano Spalletti’s departure shortly after winning the scudetto with Napoli, the Italian side have not looked the same and have been unable to replicate their form of last year. Rudi Garcia was recently sacked, and new manager Walter Mazzarri has done little to improve the situation, with his side currently fifth in the league.
While all the Spanish sides will have hopes of qualifying, they will have to play their best football to do so.
Draw in full
Inter Milan v Atlético Madrid
Napoli v Barcelona
PSG v Real Sociedad
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid
FC Porto v Arsenal
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
PSV Eindhoven v Borussia Dortmund
Lazio v Bayern Munich
GSFN | Finn Entwistle
