Official: Barcelona will face Manchester United in UEFA Europa League playoffs
Barcelona is in the UEFA Europa League for the second year in a row. They now know who they will play in the playoffs.
To get into the Round of 16, they will have to beat Manchester United over two legs.
Barcelona finished third in their UEFA Champions League group, behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, and were sent to the Europa League.
The Blaugrana will face the runner-up from the Europa League group stage in the playoffs. Since Real Sociedad and Real Betis won their groups, the Blaugrana could have drawn the second-best team from any of the eight groups.
It meant that Barça could have played Manchester United, AS Roma, PSV Eindhoven, AS Monaco, Nantes, Stade Rennais, Union Berlin, or FC Midtjylland.
And in the end, the big teams in La Liga will play Manchester United when the competition starts again in February. This will be a very big game.
In Group E, the Red Devils came in second, behind Real Sociedad. The Premier League giants have had a mixed start with their new manager, Erik ten Hag. But Barcelona will have to work very hard to beat one of Europe’s traditional powerhouses.
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