Champions League round of 16 draw | Real Sociedad gets the worst ball

 

The San Sebastian team will play in the Champions League round of 16 against PSG. Barça and Atlético will also have curveballs against Naples and Inter. Madrid, against Leipzig, comes out well.

Crude for Real Sociedad, with thorns for Barcelona and Atlético, and manageable for Madrid. This is how the draw for the Champions League round of 16 ended for the four Spanish teams, who will play the return matches at home. Pot two concealed a devil, PSG, and it tumbled to the San Sebastian group. The new test for Imanol Alguacil's young men is called Kylian Mbappé, who passed the gathering stage with a spotless pass. The azulgranas and rojiblancos will also have to negotiate a few curveballs in their duels against Naples and Inter, respectively. While a new rival (Leipzig) awaits Madrid, installed in the German Champions zone, but without tradition in the European heights.

Two teams in search of the lost identity

Barcelona will meet again with Naples, the team it already faced in the Europa League playoffs in 2021-2022, the competition to which it was relegated the last two seasons after failing to overcome the group stage of the Champions. It was not the only confrontation between two teams in which Maradona played, since they have met twice with a balance always favorable to Barça. The Blaugrana won the 2019-2020 European Cup (3-1 at the Camp Nou and 1-1 in Naples) and in the Europa League (1-1 at home and 2-4 at the stadium that bears precisely the name of Maradona).