[ad_1]
Barcelona have begun their journey into the Champions League round of 16 with a solid away result thanks to a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on Wednesday night in the first leg. of the round of 16. Barça were the better team for most of the night and took a one-goal lead thanks to solid attacking play, but a poor defensive moment cost them the victory and the tie remains very open heading into the second leg inside of three weeks.
FIRST HALF
Barça got off to a good start away from home, establishing themselves quickly in the Napoli half and moving the ball well between the lines to find space within the home defence. Lamine Yamal and Ilkay Gündogan were the biggest threats early on, and when Pedri and Robert Lewandowski became more involved, blaugrana It became even more dangerous from the beginning.
Yamal was the first to test Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret with a long shot, then Lewandowski had a very good chance inside the area and Gündogan fired a rocket from the edge of the area that would have found the top corner, but Meret made three excellent ones. save to deny the initial goal.
The first 30 minutes belonged to Barça but the Catalans failed to find a gap and Napoli finally managed to get ahead and have more of the ball towards the end of the half. However, the hosts never came close to making Marc-André ter Stegen work, and Ronald Araujo almost single-handedly neutralized Victor Osimhen’s threat, while Jules Kounde did a solid job defending Kvicha Kvaratskhelia on the wing.
The first half ended without a goal, but Barça would have been happy with their work in the first quarter, but they needed to continue with the good work and be more accurate to find the winning goal in the last 45 minutes.
SECOND HALF
Barça once again started the second half with full control of the ball and forcing Napoli to defend deep in their half, and Yamal and Gündogan soon combined to require another save from Meret as the Catalans continued to create danger.
And just in the minute of play the visitors finally got the goal they deserved: a long sequence of passes ended with a scandalous assist from Pedri between the defender’s legs and a great shot from Lewandowski, when the Pole found space inside the area and shot powerfully flat. Shot into the bottom corner that put the visiting team ahead with 30 minutes remaining.
Surprisingly, Napoli showed very little urgency after conceding the first goal and made no serious effort to commit bodies forward and created very few problems for the Barça defence, and the blaugrana He continued to control the ball and seemingly sail toward the goal.
But with 15 minutes remaining, the unlikely equalizer came against the run of play when Zambo Anguissa played a pass to Victor Osimhen inside the area, and the Nigerian striker outmaneuvered Iñigo Martínez before turning and finding the bottom corner. .
Barça was greatly affected by Napoli’s goal and could no longer control possession, easily losing the ball in the center of the field and allowing the home team to send more bodies forward and create danger with crosses into the area.
Xavi Hernández brought Raphinha and João Félix off the bench looking for a spark in attack to create one last scoring opportunity, but the blaugrana They were unable to break down Napoli’s defense and the final whistle came to end the first leg in a draw.
Barça played quite well and created enough chances to score more than one goal, and the result is not entirely satisfactory considering that Napoli scored practically their only chance in the entire match. But an away draw in the Champions League round of 16 is never a bad result, and the performance was solid and mature enough to give cause for encouragement heading into the second leg.
Naples: Méret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Jesús, Olivera; Anguisa, Lobotka, Cservicio (Traorè 68′); Politano, Osmihen (Simeone 77′), Kvaratskhelia (Lindstrom 68′)
Goal: Osimhen (75′)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Iñigo, Cancelo; Christensen (Romeu 86′), De Jong; Yamal (Raphinha 80′), Gündogan, Pedri (Félix 86′); Lewandowski
Goal: Lewandowski (60′)