Napoli fought again to safe a 1-1 draw in opposition to Barcelona of their Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday.
Victor Osimhen’s objective canceled out Robert Lewandowski’s opener.
Both groups, champions of their respective leagues final yr however struggling this season, performed a lackluster match with little attacking aptitude.
Barcelona, at the moment third in La Liga and eight factors behind leaders Real Madrid, dominated the primary half. Napoli, disorganized and struggling to advance past their very own half, didn’t pose a major menace.
Barcelona supervisor Xavi Hernandez expressed disappointment with the outcome, stating, “It is not a good result for the return leg.”
“We were better in all aspects of the game, we had to control and struggle; we weren’t effective up front, it was a summary of our season.”
Barcelona have been taking part in their first Champions League knockout match for 3 years, whereas Napoli have been led by new coach Francesco Calzona with their Serie A title protection in tatters as they languish ninth within the home standings.
Napoli have been annoyed by Barcelona’s excessive urgent, lacking easy passes, and gifting the ball to the guests, who additionally seemed in need of concepts in possession.
Teenager Lamine Yamal, who grew to become the youngest participant to seem within the knockout section of the Champions League at 16 years and 223 days, was additionally bidding to turn into the match’s youngest scorer however he despatched an early effort huge and had a strike from distance saved by goalkeeper Alex Meret.
Ilkay Gundogan twice shot huge for Barcelona earlier than Poland striker Lewandowski broke the impasse within the sixtieth minute.
He obtained a cross from Pedri simply contained in the field and made house to unleash a bullet strike into the underside nook of the web.
That woke Napoli up, and Nigerian Osimhen, taking part in his first recreation for the reason that Africa Cup of Nations, equalized quarter-hour later with a fantastic swiveling strike from contained in the field to go away the tie evenly poised forward of the return leg in Spain on March 12.
“We have a lot of work to do, but I congratulated the team for rediscovering the desire to fight,” Calzona instructed Amazon Prime Video Italia.
“We struggled at the start, but I really liked the spirit of the side. The players gave their heart and soul to avoid defeat against a very strong opponent.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com