Napoli drew Barcelona 1-1 in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 at the San Paolo Stadium on Wednesday (2/26).
The match which was previously rumored to be held closed in anticipation of the spread of the corona virus in Italy remained in fact attended by supporters.
Lionel Messi created an opportunity for Barcelona to take the lead in the ninth minute. It’s just that, left foot kick La Pulga widened to the left of the Napoli goal.
Napoli managed to steal a goal earlier than Barcelona in the 30th minute through Dries Mertens who took advantage of the Blaugrana back line.
The goal stems from Junior Firpo’s mistake in controlling the ball. The ball was then taken by Piotr Zielinski who immediately dribbled to the front of the Barcelona penalty box. Zielinski then passes the ball to the left side to Mertens, who moves freely.
The Belgian calmly released a curling shot into the far post which could not be anticipated by goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Barcelona could only score a goal in the 57th minute utilizing assists from Nelson Semedo. Semedo escaped the offside trap while chasing breakthrough bait from Sergio Busquets. The Portuguese defender quickly gave the ball to Griezmann who was in front of the Napoli goal.
Defender Samuel Umtiti threw away Quique Setien’s best chance in the match. Umtiti had the opportunity to bring Barcelona ahead 2-1 in the 76th minute. However, Umtiti’s close-range experiment from Messi’s pass was just too high.
Until the end of the match, the role of Lionel Messi in threatening the Napoli goalkeeper was not directly visible. La Pulga gives more passes to other players to endanger Partenopei’s defense.
Opta noted, Messi only fired three shots with one of them on target until the game runs 86 minutes. The Argentine national team captain also only did 58 passes. Umtiti has more passes than Messi, 113 passes.
Barcelona had to play with 10 men after Arturo Vidal was sent off by referee Felix Brych after receiving a second yellow card for loud protests. After committing an offense against a Napoli player, Vidal was only booked. But excessive protests made the Chilean player get a second yellow card.
With no more goals added, Napoli vs Barcelona ended in a 1-1 draw.
