West Ham set to AVOID Barcelona in Europa League last-32 as Moyes side get automatic bye to next round ahead of flops

BARCELONA’S wretched season hit a new low as they were confirmed as THIRD seeds for the first knock-out round of the Europa League.

Changes to the competition, starting this term, mean the eight Europa League group winners, including West Ham, no longer have to play in the initial knock-out round, which was a last 32 stage up to last season.

Instead, they will go straight through to the last 16 and await the winners of an interim stage.

That will feature the eight Europa League runners up, as the seeded teams, with the eight sides dropping down from the Champions League having unseeded status.

It means Barca, along with teams including Dortmund, Leipzig, Porto and Sevilla, will have to play at home in the first leg in February.

And West Ham are already guaranteed home advantage for the second leg of their last 32 match, against one of the eight winners of the first stage.

Uefa regulations state that no team can meet a side from the same country until the last eight phase of the competition.

The Hammers host Dinamo Zagreb tonight in their final game of the group stage.

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