Home ›› 26 Feb 2022 ›› Sport
Barcelona cruised into the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday after comfortably seeing off Napoli 4-2 to go through 5-3 on aggregate.
The Catalan giants were on top almost from the off in Naples thanks to Jordi Alba expertly finishing a lightning counter-attack from a Napoli corner, and Frenkie de Jong’s superb long-range curling effort effectively ended the tie with three quarters of the match to play.
Xavi’s thrilling side could have had more before Lorenzo Insigne briefly gave the hosts hope from the penalty spot mid-way through the first half, and Gerard Pique scored in the 45th minute and made absolutely sure there would be no Napoli comeback on the stroke of half-time.
A sobering night for Napoli was capped just before the hour mark by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who impressed up front for a dynamic Barca team.
It was a stroll for Barca into Friday’s draw for the last 16, whose matches will be played on March 10 and 17.
The night began with plenty of enthusiasm at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as the two teams lined up with a banner which read “Stop War” in protest at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, Napoli immediately handed the initiative to Barca, a dreadful short corner cleared to Adama Traore who raced up the field and fed Alba, who calmly slotted home the opener.
Napoli were given a lifeline by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who came charging out to beat Victor Osimhen to the ball but took out the Nigerian and after a VAR check ended up giving away a penalty. The home fans started streaming for the exits with over 10 minutes left as Barca contented themselves by stroking the ball around, and Matteo Politano’s nicely-taken consolation goal drew little more than a polite ripple from a long-since beaten crowd.
