Champions League draw: Did you know?
FC Barcelona now know their eight rivals in the UEFA Champions League League Phase. Following Thursday’s draw at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the blaugranes discovered they will travel to Chelsea, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague and Newcastle, while hosting Paris Saint-Germain, Eintracht Frankfurt, Olympiacos and FC Copenhagen at home. Here are ten talking points from the draw.
Nobody new
Last season (2024/25), Barça faced three sides for the first time in their history (Young Boys, Brest and Atalanta). This time around, every opponent has already crossed paths with the Catalans in previous campaigns.
The most recent
The last meeting with one of these clubs came as recently as the 2023/24 quarter-finals, when Barça took on Paris Saint-Germain. The second leg was played on 16 April 2024 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. This season, PSG return to face Barça again—this time in the League Phase, with the Catalans at home.
The longest wait
If PSG are the freshest memory, Club Brugge are the opposite. To recall Barça’s last clash with the Belgians, you have to go back to 29 October 2002, when Barça won 0-1 at the Jan Breydelstadion thanks to Juan Román Riquelme. More memorable still, Andrés Iniesta made his first-team debut that night, wearing the number 34 shirt.
No repeats
None of this season’s eight opponents featured against Barça in last year’s League Phase—or in the knockouts. In only the second edition of the new format, Hansi Flick’s men have avoided repeat pairings for now. That could change in the knockout rounds, provided Barça progress.
Over 5,000 km
All four away trips will take Barça more than 1,000 kilometres from home. The longest, in straight-line distance, is to Newcastle (1,535 km from Barcelona). The shortest is Bruges (1,094 km). London and Prague are 1,138 km and 1,353 km away respectively.
Facing the champions of Europe...
Back to PSG: the French champions are also the reigning kings of Europe, having thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in last season’s final. On paper, it is one of the standout ties of the phase, a meeting that could easily have been the final itself had Barça got past the semis.
... and the world
The other top seed is Chelsea, fresh from lifting the FIFA Club World Cup this summer. The Londoners beat PSG 3-0 in the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Barça will now head to Stamford Bridge, a ground etched in club folklore for Andrés Iniesta’s dramatic goal in the 2008/09 semi-finals that sent Pep Guardiola’s side to the final.
Familiar face at Chelsea...
Among Chelsea’s ranks is an old friend: Marc Cucurella. The 27-year-old Catalan is now the first-choice left-back under Enzo Maresca. He made his Barça debut in the 2017/18 Copa del Rey against Real Murcia before moving on loan to Eibar and then permanently to Getafe.
... and others at PSG
The PSG tie brings other emotional reunions. Luis Enrique, a Barça legend both as a player (1996–2004) and as coach (2014–2017, 16 trophies in total), now sits in the opposing dugout. On the pitch, Ousmane Dembélé—who wore blaugrana between 2017 and 2023—will return to face his former club.
Former team-mates from Denmark
FC Copenhagen’s visit will be particularly meaningful for Roony Bardghji. The Swedish winger joined Barça this summer from the Danish champions, where he made his Champions League debut. Bardghji featured in two campaigns with Copenhagen (2022/23 and 2023/24) before his move to Barcelona.