Barcelona’s misery in European competitions continues. Can it beat Napoli and advance further?

After failing to beat Bayern Munich and Benfica Lisbon in the Champions League group stage in the autumn, FC Barcelona only drew with Italian side SSC Napoli at home in the first leg of the Europa League knockout stage.

Coach Xavi’s squad went into the first leg of the knockout stage against Italian side Napoli, who advanced from a tough preliminary group along with Spartak Moscow. In the domestic competition, the Italian side is in third place.

It was the players from the south of Italy who started Thursday’s Europa League football showpiece better, as they were rewarded for their performance with a goal in the first half. Piotr Zieliński scored in the 29th minute, right between the three posts. He shot past Barcelona’s goalkeeper ter Stegen from just outside the box on his second attempt.

Although the Catalans also created two promising chances in the first half, they failed to score. The score was 0:1 after the first half.

Both teams went into the second half unchanged. Barcelona increased their activity, but still failed to make their way out of the game. It was only in the 59th minute that the Catalans were saved by a penalty kick, which was whistled for a slight knock on the arm of Napoli defender Juan Jesus.

The penalty kick was taken by Manchester City’s Ferrán Torres. And he made no mistake – 1: 1!

Barcelona, in their first ever Europa League match, created an optical superiority especially in the second half. However, it was toothless against a brilliantly defending opponent, although it created a total of 21 shooting opportunities in the match.

The Catalans will therefore have to step up noticeably in next week’s rematch in the south of Europe.

“We were the better team for an hour tonight, then we slowed down a bit, but the result is still positive. It will take alot of quality in our stadium in seven days’ time and I’m sure that with the support of our fans we can cope with that,” said Zielinski in an interview with the club website.

FC Barcelona, SSC Naples, UEFA