. It was Barcelona who attacked more often and exchanged more passes. But nothing came of it in the first half, because Luciano Spalletti’s team was well organized in the defense and easily knocked the hosts off the beat.
As in many other cases, the football world also took notice of the problem. Before the match starts. The message was clear and clear. Interestingly, the players were not faced by the Russian referees, who stood a few meters behind them at that time, not taking part in the whole action.
In Naples, the effectiveness of Napoli players in defense was completely different. Barcelona took the lead in the 8th minute. The corner kick was performed by the players, the ball was taken over by Aubameyang, he started the counterattack, played perpendicularly to Adam Traore, who threw the ball to Jordi Albie. The one in a one-on-one situation scored the first goal with a flat shot in the short corner. Five minutes later it was 2-0 for Barcelona when Frenkie de Jong beat Meret with a brilliant shot from outside the penalty area.
Ter Stegen’s fatal mistake. Penalty for Napoli
He seemed to be in control of this meeting already. Then, in a theoretically harmless situation, ter Stegen fouled Osimhen. The referee dictated a free kick, but after the VAR analysis it turned out that the Barcelona goalkeeper fouled the opponent in the penalty area. A penalty kick probably turned into a goal for Insigne.
Just before the break, Barcelona increased their lead. The defenders of Napoli had a wrong kick after a corner kick, which hit his feet, who took the ball and hit Meret’s goal at the very post. The Napoli goalkeeper had no chance of an effective intervention.
Barcelona’s advantage was beyond doubt even for a moment. If the players led by Xavi had better effectiveness, they could score another 2-3 goals before the break and decide the fate of the two-legged match. In perfect situations, however, Aubameyang was first of all wrong.
Aubameyang puts the “dot over i”
After the break, the pace of the match dropped significantly. In the 59th minute Aubameyang put a stop over the i. The Gabonese received a great pass from Adam Traore and hit the very window of Meret’s goal, thus closing the fate of the match. Napolitano set the result in the 87th minute, taking advantage of Nico’s fatal mistake and beating ter Stegen.
Barcelona, beating Napoli 4: 2, was promoted to the 1/8 finals of the Europa League. The drawing of pairs of this phase of the competition on Friday, February 25. The first matches will be played on March 10, and the rematch on March 17, 2022.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
