Newcastle United avoid awkward triple Chelsea fixture as Barcelona drawn in Champions League

Newcastle United learned their reward for sailing through the Champions League play-off on Friday morning.

While we already knew we would face either Barcelona or Chelsea, we finally got to find out which of the two it will be.

Newcastle have already played Barcelona in this season's competition, falling to a narrow defeat at St James' Park, and they will now have the chance to put that right over two legs, with the first leg of the Round of 16 game to be played at St James' Park.

This means that Newcastle avoid the awkwardness of playing Chelsea three times in the space of a week and also gets at least one more continental trip out of the competition.

Newcastle know their route to the final

Newcastle now know their route to the final, too with the full bracket now in place.

Should Newcastle beat Barcelona over the two legs, their reward in the quarter final will be a tie against the winners of Atletico Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur.

The semi-final would see Newcastle face one of Bodo Glimt, Sporting CP, Bayern Munich or Arsenal.

Newcastle could find themselves facing English opposition all the way to lifting the trophy after this round

We all know that if Newcastle gets to the final this season, they are going to be playing Manchester City because it is law that we have to face them in every cup competition, but that would be the only fixture in which we could face Pep Guardiola's side.

Although for that to happen, they would have to get past Real Madrid first and then either Bayern Munich or Atalanta, and then either PSG, Chelsea, Galatasaray or Liverpool.

After seeing off Barcelona, we could find ourselves up against English opposition all the way to lifting the trophy. Let's get carried away!