Barcelona became strong at home this Tuesday, March 12, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, eliminating Napoli with a 3-1 (4-2 overall) in a match that suffered in some passages, but in which it made the difference in two minutes that ended up defining the match.
The culés started the game in an unbeatable way with two quick goals with which they put the qualification on track at home and made the game very difficult for those led by Calzona.
First, Fermín López was in charge of opening the account at 14′, when a pass to the middle by Raphinha found him alone – deception by his teammate through – so that he only had to beat Alex Meret.
And just two minutes later, a counterattack led by Lamine Yamal found Raphinha, who opened his foot and broke the post, but Joao Cancelo corrected the rebound for the second.
However, not everything was a celebration, because Amir Rrahmani, with the center back recipe, put the Neapolitans in the game, who despite the disadvantage showed a lot of personality to go for the series, but with few weapons.
The defender connected Politano’s cross first and put the ball next to ter Stegen’s right post to make it 1-2 against Barcelona.
They had opportunities to do so, yes, but they were unable to impose conditions despite the concern they caused the locals on some occasions. And when there were 10 minutes left and they had to burn ships, Lewandowski lowered the blinds on the match by pushing it under the goal after an assist from Sergi Roberto. What happened between 14′ and 16′ of the first half was ended up being paid for by Napoli with their elimination from the competition.
Xavi’s team, without shining, was effective. And now he will wait for his next rival in the quarterfinals, in a tournament that once again has him as the protagonist after three editions in which he wandered. Will he be able to fight?