GOOOAAALLLL!!! Napoli silence the Camp Nou!!! with their first goal
45′ + 2′ HALF-TIME: BARCELONA 0-1 NAPOLI.
45′ + 2′ Adama beats two down the right before crossing from the byline, but Anguissa meets the ball before any Barca attackers and hoofs it clear!
45′ + 1′ We’re into two minutes of stoppage time at the end of this first half.45′ WIDE!!! Mingueza gets space on the edge of the area and crosses, finding the head of Ferran. The winger looks to smash his effort into the top corner, but again sees the ball fly wide of the goal!
44′ Osimhen had scored four goals in just 168 minutes of play time in the Europa League this season, scoring in each of his last three games in the competition despite not starting two of them. He is averaging a goal every 42 minutes, the best rate of any player to have scored at least two goals in the competition this season.
43′ Jesus looks to pick out Osimhen on the run, but the Napoli forward is miles offside from his starting position alone! That’s alredy the second time he’s been offside, albeit he was only caught once.
41′ Pedri’s caught late again, this time by Zielinski, as the Napoli goalscorer drags the Spain midfielder’s legs out from underneath him and concedes the free-kick.
40′ Rrahmani’s short backpass to Meret almost goes horribly wrong with Aubameyang just inches away from stealing the ball, but the Napoli keeper hoofs it clear right at the last opportunity!A. Zambo AnguissaYellow Card
39′ The first yellow card of the game does come, after Anguissa catches Nico very late, but not as late as Ferran’s prior challenge!
38′ Ferran slides into Di Lorenzo very, very late, and avoids a booking somehow. that looked nailed on to be the first booking of the game.
37′ Barca continually look to attack, having six shots to Napoli’s three, and have also had 58 per cent of possession so far, but each and every time the visitors have plenty of men back to snuff the hosts out, nullifying in particular the pace of the front three.
36′ Nico feeds Ferran wide to the left, and the winger, signed from Manchester City in early January, again drags a poor, poor shot wide. The front three really aren’t firing for the hosts, yet.
34′ Barcelona have lost three of their last five home games in major European competition, as many defeats as they had suffered across their previous 74 such matches (excluding qualifiers).
32′ Rrahmani is dispossessed easily by Aubameyang, who feeds Ferran. Barca look to have a two-on-one, but once again Koulibaly arrives to tackle the winger and recover the ball for Napoli! It’s been a one-man show at the back from the Senegal defender so far.
31′ It means slightly less with no away goals in this year’s competition, but that’s still a massive, massive goal in the context of this tie, and Barca have it all to do!
29′ GOOOAAALLLL!!! Napoli silence the Camp Nou!!! The visitors race up the other end of the pitch, and Elmas sets up Zielinski inside the area. His first shot is saved well by Ter Stegen, but the Poland midfielder follows in quickest to smash the ball into the top of the net!!! 1-0 to Napoli and Barca are up against it now!
28′ WIDE!!! Barca comne forward again as Aubameyang sets up Ferran. With the goal at his mercy, the winger fluffs his effort, which flies high and wide of Meret’s goal!
27′ Insigne and Fabian do brilliantly to one-two their way out of trouble after recovering the ball near their own corner flag. Fabian looks to counter but is tackled, however that was one hell of an effort to escape that area of the field.
25′ Mingueza nips in to knock the ball Adama’s way inside the Napoli box. He squares to Pedri, but the young midfielder can’t control the pass, allowing Napoli to clear but only as far as Nico!
23′ SAVED!!! Barca break from the corner as Pedri puts Adama through on goal. He’s about to pull the trigger before Koulibaly slides in to knock the ball away! Aubameyang recovers it, but Meret saves his tame effort! It’s pulled back as Adama was offside, but that was a lightning-quick counter-attack from the hosts!
22′ SAVED!!! Napoli break through Osimhen, who is put in behind Pique. He shoots from a tight angle on the left, forcing Ter Stegen to save with his legs and concede the corner!
22′ The hosts are almost gifted a chance by Napoli’s careless passing out from their defence, but Koulibaly intervenes to stop the Barca attack in its tracks.
20′ Napoli have lost each of their last four away games in the knockout stages of major European competitions, with one of those defeats coming against Barcelona in the 2019-20 Champions League.
18′ WIDE!!! Nico feeds Aubameyang on the edge of the area, and the former Arsenal striker’s shot just scrapes the outside of the post with Meret unmoved!
16′ Koulibaly tries a long diagonal ball for his captain to run onto, but Ter Stegen is well out of his goal to gather the cross ahead of the inbound Insigne.
15′ SAVED!!! Aubameyang feeds Alba on the left, who crosses into the box. There’s a few bouncing efforts, but the ball eventually is picked up by Nico, who drives down the right before shooting and drawing a good save from Meret!13′ A slight mix-up in the Barca rearguard as Ter Stegen and Alba almost collide going for the same ball. Alba does clear it, but his goalkeeper argues that the ball should’ve been his.
11′ It’s been rather cagey so far, and the key battle has emerged to be within the midfield. Both sides’ three-man midfields are looking to link up, but each time they’re neutralised by the opposition.
9′ Garcia catches Zielinski very late on halfway, and is quite lucky to avoid the first booking of the match.
8′ A clever turn and pass from Mingueza almost frees up space for Adama to run into, but Koulibaly arrives on the scene to clean up for Napoli.
7′ The only previous meeting between these sides in major European competition saw Barcelona eliminate the Italians at the last-16 stage of the Champions League in 2019-20. The first leg finished 1-1 in Naples before Barcelona won the second leg 3-1 at Camp Nou
5′ OVER!!! Brilliant Barca pressing, led by Aubameyang, forces Napoli to give up possession on the edge of their own box. It falls to Pedri on the edge of the area, who blazes his effort just over the bar!
4′ Excluding qualifiers, the Supercup and the Club World Cup, each of Barcelona’s last 191 games in European competition have been in the UEFA Champions League, with this their first match in Europe’s secondary competition since 2003-04, when they were eliminated by Celtic in the UEFA Cup. Their manager Xavi started both legs.
2′ Adama looks to cut inside Jesus but ends up sandwiched between the Napoli left-back and his team-mate Koulibaly. The Barca winger appeals for a free-kick, but the referee ignores his pleas.
1′ Omishen kicks off for Napoli, and this eagerly anticipated clash is under way
SOURCE: www.ghnewslive.com
