What do Barcelona need to reach Champions League last 16 after Slavia draw?

Ernesto Valverde's side suffered another setback following their 3-1 defeat at Levante and could still face Europa League football in 2020.

Despite drawing a blank against Slavia Prague in the Champions League, Barcelona still sat atop Group F when the dust had settled yesterday with Dortmund moving up to second place after the Bundesliga side’s stirring 3-2 comeback over Inter Milan.

Ernesto Valverde’s side have suffered a chastening few days, the 0-0 draw with Slavia following hot on the heels of a 3-1 humbling away at Levante last weekend and the feeling around Camp Nou – which was half empty for Tuesday night’s game – is that all is very much not well in the state of the Catalans’ park.

There were a handful of unwanted statistics surrounding the Slavia game: Barça may have extended their unbeaten record at home in the Champions League to 34 games but it marked the first time in 45 fixtures at Camp Nou that the home side had failed to score and also the first time since 2015 that Leo Messi had not found the net in 180 minutes in Europe, when the opposition was PSG and Manchester City.

Barcelona still have destiny in their own hands against Dortmund

To add to Valverde’s woes, Gerard Piqué picked up a yellow card and will be banned for the penultimate group game against Dortmund. Barça currently sit on eight points to Dortmund’s seven and face the Bundesliga side at Camp Nou on 27 November, where a victory will be enough to secure qualification and top spot. However, anything other than three points could leave Barça playing catch-up.

Should Inter Milan beat Slavia at the Sinobo Stadium and Barça lose to Dortmund, classification will be up for grabs in a three-way stand-off on the final day with Inter able to overhaul Valverde’s side for second place with Dortmund topping the group if Lucien Favre’s team beat both Barcelona and Slavia in their final two games.