Barcelona marched past Napoli to secure a spot in the last-16 round of the Europa League.
Barcelona defeated Napoli 4-2 in their Europa League game on Thursday. The Catalans displayed another brilliant attacking performance while Napoli suffered an early exit from the Europa League.
The Catalans are on fire 🔥
Barca came into the game on the back of their 4-1 win over Valencia on Sunday. The Catalans started the game with great confidence, putting pressure on the hosts’ backline as soon as the game started.
Jordi Alba scored an early opener for the Catalans before Frenkie de Jong doubled their lead in the 13th minute. Lorenzo Insigne returned Napoli back into the game when he scored a penalty for the hosts ten minutes later. However, Gerrard Pique’s goal just before the interval restored Barca’s two-goal lead on aggregate.
The Catalans continued their attacks throughout the first half while remaining conscious of Napoli’s counter-attacks. Following an assist from Adama Traore, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it 4-1 for Barca two minutes before the hour-mark.
Napoli got one back through Matteo Politano in the 87th minute, but it was too late to push for a comeback.
What is next for Barca and Napoli?
The 4-2 win (5-3 on aggregate) secures a place for Barca in Europa League’s last-16 round. On the other hand, Napoli must shift their focus toward Serie A’s title race after seeing their Europa League campaign coming to an early end.
Barcelona will face Athletic Bilbao in a crucial La Liga game on Sunday while Napoli face Lazio in Serie A on the same day.
🇮🇹 You can find three betting tips for the upcoming Serie A games of the weekend here.
🇪🇸 To read an extensive account of all the predictions for Matchday 26 of La Liga, read this article.
Player Ratings
Napoli: Meret (5); Di Lorenzo (6), Rrahmani (6), Koulibaly (6), Rui (5); Demme (6), Ruiz (5); Elmas (5), Zielinski (5), Insigne (7); Osimhen (6).
Bench: Politano (7), Petagna (6), Mertens (5), Ounas (6), Ghoulam (6).
Barcelona: Ter Stegen (5); Dest (6), Araujo (6), Pique (7), Alba (7); Pedri (6), Busquets (7), De Jong (8); Traore (8), Aubameyang (8), Torres (7).
Bench: Gonzalez (5), Gavi (5), Puig (6), L. De Jong (5), Dembele (6).
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