Barcelona beat Napoli to seal UCL quarterfinal place

Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo scored two quick goals in the first half as Barcelona went on to defeat Napoli 3-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregates to secure a quarterfinal spot in the competition.

The first leg ended 1-1 at the Diego Maradona Stadium, but the second leg proved tricky for Barcelona, who were without a couple of their young but influential stars, with Pedri, Gavi, Frankie de Jong, and Ferran Torres all ruled out due to injury.

Nevertheless, Xavi Hernández still had enough young blood and youngsters to motivate Barcelona into a brilliant start as Lamine Yamal and Fermín López both fired off-target from promising positions.

In the defense, the Blaugrana still had it all to do as Pau Cubarsí challenged Victor Osimhen from racing through. Minutes later, 20-year-old Fermin Lopez finished off Raphinha’s cutback in the 15th minute to secure Barcelona’s opener.

Two minutes later, Barcelona doubled their advantage as Lamine Yamal raced through before passing to Raphinha, who then was unfortunate to have struck the bar, but his rebound fell kindly to João Cancelo’s path as the defender converted. 

Napoli’s response arrived on the half-hour mark as Amir Rrahmani latched onto Matteo Politano’s pass with a pinpoint finish. Marc-André ter Stegen denied Giovanni Di Lorenzo from a header to ensure that Barça went into the break ahead.

Early in the second half, Francesco Calzona’s men started frantically as Georgian forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia tried to curl inside Ter-Stegen’s post. Napoli continued to put the hosts under pressure, but it was Barcelona and Yamal who had a goal disallowed for offside at the other end.

Barcelona finally confirmed their progress and denied Napoli a comeback into the tie when İlkay Gündoğan and Roberto combined to give Robert Lewandowski a simple finish. The results confirmed that Barcelona would reach the UCL quarterfinal for the first time since the 2019/20 campaign.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu