Barcelona face having to play Champions League knockout rounds in MADRID as stadium nightmare emerges
BARCELONA face the prospect of playing their Champions League knockout games in MADRID.
The Catalonians are set to qualify out of the league phase in the competition, having won five of their six games.
Barcelona have played their home games in the Champions League at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys so far.
However, due to the stadium’s commitment to the city council, it will not be available for the knockout stages.
Barcelona has been playing on the ground while the Camp Nou undergoing an £1.25billion redevelopment.
The hope was for the work to be completed this season so the club could move back into their spiritual home.
The club are looking at potential options to solve the problem.
Uefa requires clubs to play all of its knockout matches at the same stadium.
Due to this, Barcelona will have to designate a stadium in the coming days.
If the club does drop into the play-offs, then the decision will have to be made before the draw takes place for the last 16.
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The games will be played on February 11 and 18 before the Nou Camp is ready.
If the club finishes in the top eight, then it will have more time to make the decision.
The quarter-finals will be played on March 4 and 11, but the decision will have to be made before February 21.
This would make it difficult for the club to guarantee the Camp Nou’s work to be completed.
The development includes increasing capacity from 99,000 to 104,000, as well as the additions of a roof, luxury bar and new escalators.
Barcelona would then have to find a new stadium to play the knockout fixtures in.
One option would be to go to Madrid, at Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano, which would meet Uefa’s requirements.
However one problem with that choice would be the distance for home fans to travel.
The club could also look to stadiums in Catalonia but many of the options would have a very limited capacity.
Espanyol‘s 40,000-seater RCDE Stadium could be an ideal option, but some in Barcelona’s board do not want to “hear anything” about playing at the rival’s ground according to Marca.
Another potential option would be negotiating with the city council to extend their deadline to use the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
However, Marca’s report has claimed the chances of this are “minimal”.
The Camp Nou‘s improvements are set to earn Barcelona £25m more in revenue each year.