FC Barcelona News: 16 December 2019

Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

FC Barcelona to face Napoli in the last 16 | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona now know their opponents in the Champions League last 16. Ernesto Valverde’s team will face Serie A side Napoli following the draw today at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The blaugranes will play the first leg away in Italy on Tuesday, 25 February with the second leg to come at Camp Nou on Wednesday, 18 March.

Valverde: ‘Napoli are having a great Champions League’ | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona coach, Ernesto Valverde, spoke on Monday after the Champions League draw to evaluate Barça’s next rival, Napoli. He said that “Napoli are having a great Champions League,” that they were “a tough opponent” and that in San Paolo he expected an “incredible” atmosphere.

Amor insists Napoli is not an easy Champions League draw for Barcelona | Sport
Guillermo Amor, Javier Bordas, Amador Bernabéu, Éric Abidal and Bellver were Barcelona’s representatives in Nyon for Monday’s Champions League draw. The Spanish champions were paired with Italian side Napoli, with the first leg taking place in Italy at the end of February and the second leg at Camp Nou in March.

In the spotlight: SSC Napoli | FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona now know their opponents in the Champions League last 16 as Monday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland paired the blaugranes with Serie A side Napoli. The teams have never met before in official competition but that does not mean there are plenty of links between the two clubs.

Gattuso: Napoli are not afraid of Barcelona | Marca
Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso insists that his team won’t be intimidated when they go up against Barcelona in the Champions League knockout stages. The Italian, who took over from Carlo Ancelotti just last week, spoke after his side were drawn against the reigning Spanish champions in the last-16 draw on Monday.

It’s inadmissible that VAR didn’t check Pique’s penalty claim | Marca
The Blaugrana’s rage is understandable. It is confusing to understand why the VAR did not check what happened with Pique and Llorente; whether it was a penalty of not, checking it is surely the reason why the VAR was brought in in the first place.

Ousmane Dembele back in Barcelona to continue recovery | Sport
Dembele came back from Qatar where he has been working for a couple of weeks in the first phase of his injury recovery. He went to Doha on December 1 to treat the hamstring problem he suffered in the UCL against Borussia Dortmund. Going there was something Samuel Umtiti also did.

Valverde’s Barcelona are the worst with possession since the Guardiola era | Marca
Barcelona are renowned for their ball retention but, at Anoeta on Saturday, they had just 46.58 percent of the possession. It was the ninth game of Ernesto Valverde’s 141 in charge that they had less than 50 percent of the ball.

Barcelona monitoring Pep Guardiola’s situation at Manchester City | Football Espana
Barcelona are reportedly keeping an eye on Pep Guardiola’s situation at Manchester City, with a view to a potential return to Catalonia. Guardiola last week dismissed claims that he was considering breaking his contract with the defending Premier League champions early, stating that he was committed to seeing out his deal until 2021 at the Etihad Stadium.

Barça B 3-1 La Nucía: Great football, great result | FC Barcelona
Barça B have won their seventh league game of the season, this time 3-1 against La Nucía. Monreal opened the scoring for the visitors, but a wonderful brace from Hiroki Abe and another from Álex Collado turned things around to leave Garcia Pimienta’s side unbeaten in ten games (4-6-0) and fifth in the table with 29 punts, just one short of the playoff places and three behind leaders Sabadell.

Source: barcablaugranes.com