With the second legs of this season's Champions League and Europa League set to kick off over the next few days, two countries will be hoping to have at least one of their teams featuring in Berlin and Warsaw. For Serie A and La Liga fans, there is quite a bit to celebrate as six out of the final eight teams hail from Italy and Spain respectively, with Barcelona, Juventus, Real Madrid, Napoli, Fiorentina, and Sevilla all battling it out in a quest to lift the much coveted trophies next month.
Will it be a battle with the Serie A champions or a "Classico" Champions League final clash for Barcelona?
On Tuesday, Barcelona will be the first to try to book their ticket to Germany's capital as they take on none other than Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich. Die Roten, who humiliated the Blaugrana 7-0 on aggregate just two seasons ago in a ruthless display, are now the ones who could be subject to some of the same treatment should Pep Guardiola's men not be able to make a drastic improvement from their disappointing showing at Camp Nou.
The Bavarian powerhouse will also have to hope that Lionel Messi and his colleagues have a bad day at the office. However, given the Catalan giants' brilliant performances as of late this is really something that even the most devoted Bundesliga fan will have to admit is truly and highly unlikely to occur - but football has seen, and will continue to see its fair share of surprises.
Barcelona look well on their way to Berlin after dispatching Bayern Munich in the first leg last week
.jpg?q=75&w=634)
With one foot firmly in the finals - barring a catastrophic collapse - Luis Enrique's men look set to make sure that there is at least one Spanish representative in the final quartet of teams. Moreover, Messi and his teammates will have some nice opposition as they will either take on Scudetto champions Juventus, or, as La Liga fans will desperately want, Real Madrid in what would be the first Champions League "Classico".
A day later, the Blaugrana - assuming Bayern are not unable to pull off what would be a monumental upset - will know their opponents as their arch-rivals Real Madrid take on the Bianconeri in part two of their two-legged tie. Unlike the Barcelona-Bayern match, this game between Italian tacticians Massimiliano Allegri and Carlo Ancelotti is more finely poised. Despite la Vecchia Signora enjoying a 2-1 advantage, Real Madrid were able to score a vital away goal.
As Italy's only surviving representative in the Champions League, Juventus are hoping to restore some of Serie A's pride by making it to their first final since 2003
.jpg?q=75&w=634)
As such, should the reigning UCL winners net in front of their home crowd, the pressure will be on the Turin titans to prevent Real Madrid from having a chance at becoming the first team to sucessfully defend their title in the modern Champions League era. Whatever the outcome of Wednesday's eagerly anticipated game, the cards are already 99 per cent set that fans will have either a Spain vs. Spain or Spain vs. Italy rivalry taking place in Germany next month.
Ancelotti is hoping to become the first manager to win consecutive UCL titles with the same time since the tournament's change in 1992
Sevilla, Napoli, Fiorentina: Will Spain take on Italy, or will it be an-all Serie A affair in Warsaw in June?
Meanwhile, the Champions League's "little brother" - the Europa League - is also shaping up to be an interesting Thursday indeed. For Spain's representative, reigning champions Sevilla, Unai Emery's men are in a similar position to Barcelona. After powering past Fiorentina 3-0 in the first leg, they are in pole position to book their ticket to Warsaw as they, for the second time in their history aspire to successfully maintain their continental title.
Sevilla look set to feature in their second straight Europa League final after outclassing Fiorentina 3-0 last week
Indeed, Vincenzo Montella's squad face an uphill hill - rather, a titanic mountain - to climb if they want to make it to their first Europa League final since losing to Juventus in an all-Italian clash in 1990. It also happened to be the first time two Serie A sides faced off in the competition, and it would be followed up with another one a year later as Inter taking on Roma. In fact, the 90's were truly all about calcio with two more Italy vs. Italy final clashes - Parma vs. Juventus in the 1995 edition and the Nerazzurri facing off against Roma's city rivals Lazio in 1998.
After a good Europa League so far, Fiorentina will face the toughest battle of their season as they attempt to feature in their first final in 25 years
Meanwhile, Napoli, who were feeling quite confident after two good performances resulting in a 6-3 aggregate win over Wolfsburg, were dealt quite a shock as they drew 1-1 with Ukrainian outfit Dnipro. As as result, the Partenopei, like their Italian counterparts Fiorentina and Juventus face a tricky second leg this Thursday as Rafa Benitez hopes to add a third Europa League trophy - having already won it with Valencia and Chelsea - to his trophy haul after already winning the Supercoppa Italiana earlier this season.
The Partenopei face a precarious task as they head to Ukraine after failing to defeat them at the Stadio San Paolo last week
Unfortunately for Napoli, they will have it all to do in Ukraine. Their opponents, having scored a vital away goal would be perfectly happy should neither side be able to score this Thursday as they would progress to the final in Warsaw at their opponents' expense.
Regardless of how things will look once this exciting week of football has concluded, one thing is certain: there will be at least one team from Spain or Italy on the pitch in Berlin and Warsaw in just a few weeks' time.
However, as to how many from Serie A and La Liga, we will have to wait for 360 minutes of football over the next three days to come to an end.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Follow the game on-the-go
Download our iOS and Android apps to follow soccer on-the-go. It comes packed with features - live scores, fixtures, results, tables, line-ups, stats, TV schedule and much more! Sorry, no live streaming within the app.
