Big relief for Barcelona
Catalans edge past Napoli to make Champions League quarters return
BARCELONA survived a nervy second half to beat Napoli 3-1 yestersday and reach the Champions League quarterfinals 4-2 on aggregate. Xavi Hernandez’s side came flying out of the blocks with goals from Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo but after Amir Rrahmani pulled one back, the Catalans started to sweat.
Italian champions Napoli, who salvaged a 1-1 draw in the last-16 first leg, were finally beaten when Robert Lewandowski swept home from close range.
It is the first time five-time winners Barcelona have reached the last eight of the competition since 2020, and they did so without injured midfield trio Pedri, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong.
“It was an incredible night, (it’s been) four years without getting where we belong, where the club deserves to be,” Sergi Roberto told Movistar. “The fans backed us – they are very important.”
Xavi said he was leaving at the end of the season in January and his team have gone on a run of nine games without defeat after that decision.
Teenage stars Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi have been key in that run, and both excelled against Napoli on a night which offered some relief to Barcelona amid a bleak season.
Centreback Cubarsi, 17, got the better of Napoli forward Victor Osimhen.
“He’s incredible, he was the game’s best player,” added Sergi Roberto.
“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.”
Xavi demanded the fans turn their temporary Olympic Stadium home on the city’s Montjuic hill into a pressure cooker, and they duly obliged. Over 50,000 spectators marked the club’s largest attendance this season.
“There has been a lot of unfair criticism, (that we were) the joke of the Champions League, we had to play with that pressure,” Xavi told a news conference.
“We had to be better than Napoli and we were, it’s a more than deserved qualification, it’s one of my best moments as Barcelona coach.”
The coach said he would not change his mind about leaving at the end of the season, a decision he took in January. Since then the team have gone nine matches unbeaten.
Cubarsi, 17, was given the player of the match award and Xavi lavished praise on the young defender, key in recent weeks.
“He’s a very rational kid, he’s got a lot of brains, he’s patient, he’s very humble, he wants to improve,” said Xavi.
“His sudden emergence is wonderful for Barcelona and Spanish football – we’re looking at a top-level defender for years to come.”
Like Xavi, Cubarsi said this was a match to remember.
“This has been one of the best days of my life,” Cubarsi told Movistar.
“The team deserves this player of the match trophy, I’m so happy, but we’re a group.” –