“Would obviously be lovely for us” – Jarrod Bowen picks Barcelona as preferred opponents for West Ham in Europa League
West Ham United forward Jarrod Bowen has said that playing against Barcelona in the Europa League this season would be 'lovely'.
The Hammers directly qualified for the Round of 16 of the competition after winning their group. They won four matches, drew one and lost one. Their group included Dinamo Zagreb, Rapid Wien and Genk.
Meanwhile, the knockout playoff first legs were played on Thursday, with the winners to qualify for the Round of 16.
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Speaking to 90min, Bowen talked about West Ham's potential opponents in the next round in the Europa League. He said:
“I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about (visiting the Camp Nou), and it’s a great position to be in. Our main goal in the group stage was just qualifying; it was all a very new experience for a lot of the players who hadn’t been involved in Europe before, but to do it by topping the group and going straight into the round of 16 was fantastic."
He added:
“It’s a long way into the competition; we’re only a few games away from the big prize final. We’ve got to see who we get, but Barcelona would obviously be lovely for us.”
Before their next Europa League game, though, West Ham will continue their quest for a top-four finish in the Premier League. They currently sit in fifth position in the standings, two points off fourth-placed Manchester United. They take on Newcastle United in their next game on Saturday.
Barcelona draw with Napoli in the Europa League
While Bowen may want to face the Spanish club in the next round, Barcelona will have to qualify for it first. They played out a disappointing 1-1 draw against Napoli in the first leg at the Camp Nou on Thursday.
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They created many chances in the game, but failed to convert them, with Ferran Torres being the main culprit. Piotr Zielinski gave Napoli the lead before Torres equalised from the spot. However, the Blaugrana will be ruing squandering the opportunities they had to put the game to bed.
The two teams will clash in the second leg at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium on Thursday, February 24.