Europa League: Clubs that Barcelona can face in play-off round revealed

Barcelona’s 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League this week means they will play Europa League football in 2022.

The LaLiga giants are among the 24 teams that will be in Monday’s draw for Europe’s second tier competition.

Xavi Hernandez’s team will be looking to win the Europa League for the first time in their history.

Barca can face Braga, Dynamo Zagreb, Lazio, Napoli, Olympiacos or Rangers in the knockout play-off round.

The round of 32 has been eliminated from the Europa League format. Instead, the top two teams from eight groups will join the clubs that finished in third place in the Champions League, to make up the field for the knockout stage.

The group winners will essentially receive a bye in the next round and won’t start their knockout stage journey until the round of 16.

They will wait until the UEL group runners-up and the UCL third-place finishers duel in the knockout play-offs, which will narrow the field down from 24 to 16 by the end of February.