Barcelona head to the French capital to take on PSG in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Wednesday evening, but when was the last time they reached this stage of the competition?
Parc des Princes plays host to the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final clash on Wednesday night as Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain welcome Barcelona to the French capital.
La Blaugrana, led by the legendary Xavi, advanced to the last eight of the competition thanks to a 4-2 aggregate victory over reigning Serie A champions Napoli and come into this one off the back of an 11-game unbeaten run.
This impressive run of results includes victories in each of their last four matches across all competitions, while they have also kept a clean sheet in each of their last five La Liga fixtures.
With advancement to the semi-finals looking to be a realistic possibility for the Catalan side this season following a disappointing few years in the competition, we pose the question: when was the last time Barcelona qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals?
When Did Barcelona Last Qualify For The Champions League Quarter-Finals?
Barcelona have regularly made deep runs into the latter stages of the Champions League and European Cup throughout their history, however this hasn’t been the case across the last few years.
Prior to this season, La Blaugrana failed to reach the quarter-finals of the competition in three successive seasons and even failed to advance past the group stage in the last two seasons.
The COVID-19 interrupted 2019/20 season was the last time they qualified for the quarter-finals, in which they crashed out of the competition after being battered 8-2 by eventual winners Bayern Munich in a one-legged behind closed doors clash at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
In fact, that was the 13th successive season that they had reached the last eight of the competition, in a run dating all the way back to Manchester United‘s title-winning 2007/08 campaign.
📅#OTD in 2020, Bayern Munich defeat Barcelona of Messi 8-2 in the UCL making it the first time Barcelona had conceded eight goals in a game since 1946.
🇪🇸 FC Barcelona 2-8 Bayern Munich 🇩🇪
🏟️Estadio da Luz, Lisboa.#UCL | August 14, 2020 pic.twitter.com/CKrgUDTMAd— FC Bayern 💎 (@BayernUniversal) August 14, 2023
When Did Barcelona Last Qualify For The Champions League Semi-Finals?
Could Xavi’s men go one better this year and advance to the final four? Based on recent form, it certainly seems to be a realistic possibility.
The last time they achieved such feat came during the 2018/19 season, when they looked certain to advance to the final after beating Liverpool 3-0 in the first leg of their semi-final tie. However, Jurgen Klopp’s side turned the tie on its head at Anfield to win 4-3 on aggregate before they went on to lift the title in Madrid a few weeks later.
Prior to that season, Barcelona hadn’t appeared in the semi-finals since the 2014/15 season. In that campaign, they beat Manchester City, PSG, and Bayern Munich on the road to the final before overcoming Juventus to claim their fifth Champions League title.
They haven’t reached the final ever since, but could their recent turn in form see them achieve an unlikely sixth Champions League title after a topsy-turvy start to the campaign?
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