FC Barcelona drew 1-1 at home with Napoli this Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32, leaving the pass to the next phase open.
The Italian side opened the scoring with a goal from Piotr Zielinski (minute 29), but Ferran Torres made it 1-1 from a penalty (59), so the tie will be decided in the second leg in Naples next week.
FC Barcelona went from less to more at its start in the Europa League, a trophy that they still do not have in their showcases and that the azulgranas aspire to win as a means of being in the Champions League next season.
The azulgranas, encouraged by their fans, began pushing their rivals towards their field, but as the minutes went by, Napoli shook off the local pressure to reach the domains of Marc-André Ter Stegen.
Barça once again showed their punching problems crashing again and again in the good defense of the team with the fewest goals in the Italian championship, despite finishing the match by shutting down Napoli.
The azulgrana team tried to do damage coming down the flanks, seeking to take advantage of the speed and overflow of Adama Traoré and in the second half of Ousmane Dembélé, a real shock for the team.
About half an hour later, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, in his first start with Barça, put a ball into the area to Ferran Torres, who, completely alone, sent the ball out (28).
The goal that could have been was passed to the goal that was when Zielinski culminated a visiting counterattack with a shot that Ter Stegen rejected, but the ball returned to the Pole who finished off for the second time to make it 1-0 (29).
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The goal did not discourage the azulgranas who continued to press up and attack, but was met with a good performance from the Napoli centre-backs Kalidou Koulibaly and Amir Rrahmani.
After the break, Barça improved their pressure, recovering in the opposite field and pushing Napoli towards their area until they achieved the tie prize.
A handball in the area by Brazilian defender Juan Jesús was sanctioned with a penalty, which Ferran Torres (59) converted to make the score 1-1.
Encouraged by the goal, Barça began to dominate the match, with Sergio Busquets who came on for Frenkie de Jong (65) putting order and direction in the game, while Dembélé put speed and arrival on the right wing.
The French winger who entered for Traoré (65) was received with a great whistle from the public due to the controversy over his non-renewal, forcing Piqué to ask the fans to support the Frenchman instead of whistles.
Dembélé, despite the bad reception, revolutionized the Barça game with his speed and overflow.
Barça ended up shutting down Napoli, who in the last twenty minutes gave up playing the ball to try to surprise with quick counterattacks.
Ferran Torres had the 2-1 in his boots with the game almost over when, without opposition in the area, he sent a ball into the clouds (88), before sending another deflected ball in stoppage time (90+2).
Napoli ended up reducing balls, but despite their harassment, FC Barcelona failed to unbalance the scoreboard and the pass to the round of 16 will be played in Italy. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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