Getty Lionel Messi vs Napoli
Barcelona will resume their 2019-20 Champions League campaign in August with the competition set to be decided by a final eight tournament in Lisbon.
The Catalan giants are currently tied at 1-1 with Napoli after the first leg of their last-16 tie but will meet again on 7th or 8th August for a place in the quarter-finals.
The second leg of the tie was scheduled to take place at the Camp Nou. UEFA is yet to confirm if the game can go ahead in Barcelona or whether it will take place at a neutral venue.
The winner of the game will progress to a mini-tournament in Lisbon to decide the winner. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will all take place in Portugal as outlined below.
📅 Your #UCL August calendar.
Away Goal Gives Barcelona Advantage
Barcelona has a slight edge over Napoli ahead of the second leg. Dries Mertens opened the scoring in Italy but Antoine Griezmann’s away goal means the Catalans can progress with a goalless draw.
Quique Setien’s side will have to cope without influential midfielder Arturo Vidal for the second leg. The Chile midfielder was sent off at the Stadio San Paolo and will have to sit out the match through suspension.
The game will take place behind closed doors, but UEFA president Aleksander has not ruled out fans being in attendance for the final, according to Mark Ogden at ESPN.
“If I answer today, I don’t think spectators will be at the Champions League quarterfinals, semifinals or final, but things are changing rapidly. A month ago, I wasn’t even sure if we would play the competitions, but now we will do it, hopefully.
“We haven’t decided yet about fans or not. We will assess at the beginning of July. It would be incompetent for us to decide in advance about an uncertain situation.”
Champions League Contenders
Barcelona and Napoli are two of eight teams still to confirm their places in the quarter-finals. The other last 16 matches are between Manchester City and Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea and Lyon and Juventus.
Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta, Atlético Madrid, and RB Leipzig had already safely made it through to the last eight of the tournament before the competition was halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Champions League remains Barcelona’s biggest ambition. The Catalans have not lifted the famous European Cup since 2015 but will be hoping they can end the season on a high.
READ NEXT: Revealing Stat Exposes Barcelona’s Messi-Griezmann Problem