By Daily Sports Nigeria on December 19, 2023

Victor Osimhen and his teammates will face reigning La Liga champions Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 after the draw was made on Monday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Champions League round of 16 draws which took place on Monday in Nyon at the House of European Football after the 16 teams were finalised last week saw group winners drawn against group runners-up.

Napoli finished second in Group C with 10 points, eight points behind Real Madrid, who had a 100 percent record in the group stage.

Before the draws, the Serie A champions knew beforehand that a tough task awaited them as they were likely to face either Arsenal, Atlético de Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City or Real Sociedad.

The Partenopei can count themselves lucky after being paired with a struggling Barcelona side who are without a win in their last three games.

It has equally been a strange season for Napoli, who lost manager Luciano Spaletti over the summer after a historic campaign in their Serie A title in 2022/23, and the club from Naples have struggled to replace his charismatic presence and tactical acumen.

They began the year with Rudi Garcia at the helm but quickly moved on after a dreadful start to the season, with veteran Italian manager Walter Mazzarri taking over last month and guaranteeing qualification to the Champions League knockouts.

Napoli currently sit fifth in the Serie A standings and hope to have a strong second half to the season.

With the quality of Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Matteo Politano in the attack, Napoli will hope to get the better of the Catalans and move to the next phase of the competition.

Meanwhile, Sanusi Zaidu’s Porto side have been drawn against Arsenal while Sadiq Umar and his teammates have been handed a tough draw against Paris Saint-Germain.

Source Punch Ng

Posted December 19, 2023

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