FCBARCELONA.CAT

17.12.2009 17:47

Champions League draw on Friday

Llorenç Tarrés

FC Barcelona will discover who they are to play in the first knockout round of this season's Champions League on Friday when the draw is made in Switzerland.

The cup holders' squad maybe focussed on the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, but the Blaugrana are preparing to send a party to Nyon to see who the team will play in February and March next year. It is a similar situation to the one that the club found itself in three years ago as the draw was made for the European event while the team was away at the World Club Cup. In 2006 Barça drew Liverpool, but history cannot repeat itself again as the Reds were eliminated at the group stage this time around.

Home advantage

On this occasion only the first knockout stage will be drawn and a new meeting will take place on March 19 to decide the last few rounds up to the final itself in the Santiago Bernabéu. Whoever Barça draw they will play the second leg in Camp Nou, giving them an added advantage.

Old friends

Among the seven teams that the Blaugrana could meet are old friends as Bayern Munich have coach Louis van gall at the helm while AC Milan count Ronaldinho in their squad and VfB Stuttgart have Aliaksandr Hleb.

Recent meetings

Barça have met Olympique Lyonnais and Bayern only last season en route to the final in Rome and the Catalan outfit beat both in some style. While the French side were beaten 6-2 on aggregate, Bayern were defeated 4-0 in the first leg in Camp Nou, before holding Pep Guardiola's side to a 1-1 draw in the Allianz Arena.