BARCELONA INTO QUARTERS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2020
BARCELONA: Barcelona reached the Champions League quarter-final for the first time in four years after a thrilling 3-1 home win over Napoli in its last-16 second leg that gave them a deserved 4-2 aggregate victory on Wednesday.
Early goals by Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo set the hosts on its way and, after Amir Rrahmani cut the deficit before the break, Robert Lewandowski wrapped up the win with a late third.
Napoli had never beaten Barca in its previous five meetings and it turned out to be a repeat of the 2020 Champions League meeting with a 3-1 home win for the Spanish side after a 1-1 draw in Naples. That was the last time the Catalans had won a knockout stage game in the competition and their most recent qualification for the last eight.
In a highly entertaining affair at Montjuic Stadium, Barca pressed high early on, giving Napoli little time to settle, and the few attacks the visitors managed to create ended with striker Victor Osimhen offside. The opening goal came in the 15th minute when Cancelo played in Raphinha down the left wing and he cut into the area and pulled a ball back which Lewandowski let run to the unmarked Fermin who calmly slotted his shot into the bottom left corner.
Napoli had little time to recover before Barca doubled its lead. The visitors pushed forward in search of an equalizer and Barcelona countered with pace.
The excellent Lamine Yamal’s crossfield pass found Raphinha who cut into
the area and wrong-footed Giovanni Di Lorenzo before curling a shot which came back off the far post and Cancelo was there to drive his first time effort into the net.
Napoli finally found a way through on the half hour when Matteo Politano went past Cancelo in the area before playing the ball back to Rrahmani whose run from the back was rewarded with a side-footed shot past goalkeeper
Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Visiting keeper Alex Meret kept Napoli in the tie with a couple of great saves after the break from Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan, but could do nothing about the final goal.
Lewandowski fashioned a neat onetwo with Gundogan who played the ball in to Roberto and his quick pass found the Polish striker for a simple tap-in to kill off Napoli’s hopes.
Arsenal beats FC Porto in shootout
In other Champions League action, Arsenal survived a penalty shootout to scrape past Porto and reach the quarter-final for the first time in 14 years after a tense last-16 duel had ended 1-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.
Porto, which won the opening leg 1-0, proved to be stubborn opposition for the Premier League leaders and Arsenal fans must have feared another night of European heartache. But Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice all tucked away their spot kicks with clinical precision. Porto’s Wendell saw his effort somehow stay out after hitting the post and Arsenal keeper David Raya then became the hero as he kept out Galeno’s penalty to send Arsenal through 4-2 in the shootout and spark wild celebrations.
Happy with the qualification and we’ll see how the draw goes. Proud to be back in the quarterfinals after years
—Xavi Hernandez, Coach, FC Barcelona