Barcelona had one of their best Halves this season banging in three goals as things wrapped up quickly at the Camp nou.
Lionel Messi was in fine form as Barcelona progressed to the Champions League quarter-finals, with a 3-1 second-leg defeat of Napoli sealing a 4-2 aggregate victory.
After surrendering rather meekly to Real Madrid in the La Liga title race, the Champions League is Barcelona’s only hope of a trophy this season and Clement Lenglet got them off to the perfect start by heading home a Ivan Rakitic corner (10).
Lionel Messi then came to the party with a sumptuous effort (23) and had one chalked off harshly by VAR for handball.
The Argentine then won a penalty for his side, aided by VAR which led the referee to take a second look at the incident on the touchline monitor. Luis Suarez knocked home the penalty (45+1) before Lorenzo Insigne capped off an intense first 45 minutes by scoring from the spot himself (45+5).
With Arturo Vidal and Sergio Busquets suspended, Roberto and Frenkie De Jong started in midfield. Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi played in a fluid front three.Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne was doubtful after a slow recovery from a groin injury suffered against Lazio last week but he was fit to start.
Napoli needed to score twice to keep their Champions League dream alive but despite showing plenty of endeavour and having a goal ruled out for offside by Arkadiusz Milik, the Italians could not find a way past a hard-working Barcelona side.
Clement Lenglet’s ninth-minute header broke the deadlock, with Messi netting an exquisite second(23min) prior to winning a penalty which Luis Suarez converted.(45+5 pen).
Insigne’s spot-kick gave Napoli hope, but Barca had enough to book their place in the last eight, where Bayern Munich await.
Dries Mertens clipped the woodwork inside two minutes but Barca swiftly took control – Lenglet heading home unmarked from Ivan Rakitic’s inswinging corner, with the goal standing after a VAR check for a possible foul on Diego Demme.
Further punishment followed when Messi bundled his way through a crowd of defenders and, despite an untimely slip, he curled a wonderful finish beyond David Ospina.
Though it has been a dissapointing season for Barcelona in the domestic front, they’ll defintely look into getting a sixth UEFA Champions league trophy in their cabinent this season as such hopes still remains alive.
But they’ll first of all look to overcome the hurdle which is Bayern Munich in the quarter final of the competition On Friday in Lisbon.
With a player like Lionel Messi in their ranks, such feat could be well achieved but Barcelona needs to stop depending on the prowess of Messi alone and come together and play as good team that they are to achieve this
Be the first to comment