Barcelona advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years after claiming a 4-2 aggregate win over Napoli.
Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo gave Xavi Hernandez’s team the early lead, but the Catalans began to perspire after Amir Rrahmani equalised.
After surviving a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the round of 16, Italian champions Napoli were ultimately defeated by Robert Lewandowski’s close-range strike.
Barcelona, the five-time champions, have not advanced past the round of eight in the competition since 2020, and they accomplished this feat without the injured midfield three of Pedri, Gavi, and Frenkie de Jong.
“We’re in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after four years, it’s the moment to enjoy that,” Barca coach Xavi told Movistar.
“We played a great game, the team gave everything, we dominated in many moments … (I’m) very proud.”
After Xavi announced in January that he was leaving the squad at the conclusion of the season, his team went on a nine-game winning streak.
Teenage players Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal have been essential to that form, and they both performed well against Napoli on a night that gave Barcelona some much-needed solace in the midst of a dismal season.
The 17-year-old centre back Cubarsi defeated the forward Victor Osimhen of Napoli.
“He’s incredible, he was the game’s best player,” Sergi Roberto told Movistar.
“He doesn’t stop surprising us, in the last 16 and playing this way, he’s a player who can be here for his whole life.”
In a knockout stage match, Barcelona became the first team in the competition’s history to start two players who were 17 years of age or younger.
Xavi ordered the supporters to make their makeshift house on the Montjuic hill in the city into a pressure cooker, and they dutifully complied. The crowd of almost 50,000 people was the highest for the club this season.
The Spanish champions stormed out of the blocks with such intensity that Francesco Calzona’s Napoli withered.
Electric Yamal, a 16-year-old winger, made significant progress down the right before Lopez’s brilliant goal after 15 minutes.
Lopez tucked the ball home after Cancelo feed Raphinha, who cut the ball back into the box.
Although he might not have Pedri’s metronomic accuracy, the midfield player has energy and an unquenchable thirst for goals.
After two minutes, the visitors were left stunned as the Catalans increased their lead by two goals. Yamal initiated the counterattack by breaking free in his own half.
The Brazilian hit the post during the winger’s game in Raphinha, but Cancelo was there to roll in the rebound.
When Matteo Politano in through the right, Ronald Araujo played him onside as Napoli fought their way back in.
The winger from Italy squared the ball for Rrahmani, who finished neatly to give Napoli a point again.
Shortly after, Napoli was on pace to tie the score, but Barcelona custodian Marc-Andre ter Stegen produced an incredible save by blocking Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s header.
With Barcelona pushed back into their own half and haphazardly clearing the ball, the Italians got off to a solid start in the second half.
Xavi moved to invigorate the midfield and give his team a boost by substituting Sergi Roberto and Oriol Romeu for Andreas Christensen and Lopez.
Alex Meret made stops from Raphinha and Lewandowski before Yamal hit from close range, but his shot was offside.
Jesper Lindstrom, a Danish winger, missed a close opportunity to score for Napoli before Lewandowski, assisted by Ilkay Gundogan and Sergi Roberto, won the match.
“We did well at times and almost equalised,” Calzona told Italy’s Sky Sport.
“Of course, if you lose, it means something didn’t work.”
Although Barcelona’s second-half nerves revealed they are far from their past brilliance, they still have enough talent in Yamal, Raphinha, and Cancelo to pose a threat to any future opponent in the quarterfinals.
“It was an incredible night, (it’s been) four years without getting where we belong, where the club deserves to be,” added Sergi Roberto.
Photo by EPA/Siu Wu
