Barcelona bring 'romance' to Glasgow City in last 16 of Women's Champions League
- Published
Barcelona beat Glasgow's conquerors from last year, Kazygurt, in the previous round
Glasgow City's Scott Booth feels the "romance" of being drawn against Barcelona eclipses the difficulty of their Women's Champions League draw.
The Scottish champions will face the fourth highest-ranked team left in the competition in the last 16.
"Any side, the seeded teams in particular, at this stage are fantastic," City's head coach said.
"If you get a tough game, it's nice to have a little bit of romance to it, so Barcelona give us that."
The Scottish champions, who were unseeded in the draw made in Nyon, will travel to Spain for the first leg on 17 or 18 October.
Barcelona, runners-up in Spain behind Atletico Madrid, will then travel to Glasgow on 31 October or 1 November.
City play at the home of Petershill juniors and Booth said it was too early to say whether the game might be moved to a larger venue.
"It would be nice to get a big crowd to come and help us with the second leg," he told BBC Scotland.
"But, at the same time, Petershill in the past has been a good venue because the size of the pitch helps and the fact that there have been so many good nights in Europe for Glasgow City at Petershill."
Booth admits that his side will "be huge underdogs" against a team that includes a host of international players, including England forward Toni Duggan and Netherlands midfielder Lieke Martens, who was named player of the tournament at Euro 2017.
"It would be a romantic dream to think that we can get to the quarter-finals and go through against Barcelona," he said.
"But we are pretty grounded as a club and as a staff, and also the players, and we know it's going to be hugely tough to try to get over this next obstacle."
Barcelona have finished second in the Spanish top flight for the last three seasons and were edged out by one point by Atletico last season.
They will be bidding to reach the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive season and lost to eventual winners Olympic Lyonnais 3-1 on aggregate in the last eight last term.
However, Fran Sanchez's team were given a fright by Kazygurt, who beat City on away goals in last season's round of 32, at the same stage of the current campaign.
The Blaugranes only progressed after a 3-1 defeat in Kazakhstan by winning the return leg 3-0.
City, who top the Scottish Women's Premier League on goal difference from Hibernian as they chase a 12th consecutive title, qualified for the last 16 for the first time since 2014/15 after beating Cypriots Somatio Barcelona over two legs.
Booth's side entered the competition in the group stage, finishing first ahead of Belgians Anderlecht, Polish champions Gornik Leczna and Martve of Georgia.
This is the fourth time they have made it as far as the last 16, reaching the quarter-finals once, in 2014/15.
Women's Champions League last 16 draw
Zurich (Switzerland) v Bayern Munich (Germany)
Wolfsburg (Germany) v Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Ajax (Netherlands) v Olympique Lyonnais (France)
Barcelona (Spain) v Glasgow City (Scotland)
Linkoping (Sweden) v Paris St-Germain (France)
Chelsea (England) v Fiorentina (Italy)
Rosengard (Sweden) v Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Kvinner (Norway) v Brondby (Denmark)
Glasgow City beat Somatio Barcelona 2-1 on aggregate to reach the last 16