Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said: ‘FC Barcelona and Arsenal generate the second and seventh highest revenues in world club football. Participating and progressing in the Champions League delivers significant revenue benefits in terms of UEFA distributions and matchday revenue, and success on the pitch can also translate into commercial uplifts.’

According to the Deloitte Football Money League, the remaining clubs in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 have a total revenue of more than €4.3bn.

Tim Bridge, Senior Manager in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: ‘The combined 2014/15 revenues for the R16 clubs are more than €4bn and nearly all of the R16 clubs recorded revenues of more than €125m, demonstrating that success both on and off the pitch often go hand-in-hand.’

Deloitte’s study shows that on top of the guaranteed UEFA distribution that clubs have already secured from reaching the R16, further progress in the competition can deliver significant incremental prize money, in particular should a club go on to win the competition. In addition, further progress could potentially deliver a greater share of market pool payments, as well as additional matchday revenue and potential commercial revenue benefits.

Barcelona’s Champions League triumph last year resulted in UEFA distributions of €61m, an increase of €19.1m from the previous season. Similarly, Juventus’ successful run to the final last season helped the club to achieve total revenue growth of 16%, Deloitte said.

Current predictions suggest most of the financial uplift is also likely to be heading Barcelona’s way tonight. They are favourites to win the tie at home, going into the match with a 2-0 lead over Arsenal.