Mueez Ajao
– Barcelona turned in a classy display as they beat Napoli 4-2 in their Europa League playoff second leg at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium on Thursday to advance to the round of 16 by an aggregate score of 5-3.
– Ahead of the match, players from both teams held up a “Stop War” banner following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday night.
– The visitors wasted no time in taking the lead, with Jordi Alba finishing off a rapid-fire counter-attack and Frenkie de Jong curling in an absolute beauty from distance to stake Barcelona to a 2-0 advantage before 15 minutes.
Also Read: Barca held by strong Napoli
– Napoli halved the deficit soon after when VAR ruled that Marc-Andre ter Stegen fouled Victor Osimhen in the area and Lorenzo Insigne dispatched the resulting spot kick to bring the home fans back to life.
– But Barca struck again before half-time, as Gerard Pique settled a ball in front of goal and fired past Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret to restore Xavi’s side to a two-goal lead after a thrilling opening 45 minutes.
– Napoli had their work cut out for them in the second half, but any thoughts of a comeback were put to rest just before the hour mark with a stellar strike from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who curled a first-time shot into the upper right corner from a pass across the box by Adama Traore.
– The hosts scored a consolation goal just before full-time through Matteo Politano, but it was too little too late for the Naples side, whose European campaign came to an end on a night when Barcelona were simply the better team.
