Match report: Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (Agg 4-2)
Jonathan Liew typed his fingers to the bone to bring you this account of tonight’s action from Camp Nou. Read on ...
Meanwhile at Stamford Bridge: Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Bayern Munich thrashed Chelsea to set up a quarter-final against Barcelona.
Champions League quarter-finals
- Atalanta v Paris Saint-Germain (Wednesday 8pm)
- Leipzig v Atletico Madrid (Thursday 8pm)
- Barcelona v Bayern Munich (Friday 8pm)
- Manchester City v Lyon (Saturday 8pm)
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Full-time: Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (Agg 4-2)
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! It’s all over at Camp Nou, where Barcelona advance to a quarter-final with Bayern Munich. Clement Lenglet, Leo Messi and Luis Suarez scored the goals that secured their passage, while Lorenzo Insigne bagged a consolation goal for Napoli.
90+4 min: Napoli keep plugging away against opponents who look dead on their feet. Di Lorenzo has an cross cleared by Ter Stegen.
90+2 min: Barcelona substitution: Junior Firpo on for Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan gets booked for time-wasting as he dawdles off.
90+1 min: Di Lorenzo’s cross from the right is headed clear by Gerard Pique. The Italian side need two very late goals and have four minutes in which to score them.
88 min: Napoli have never been past the last 16 in the Champions League and look increasingly unlikely to do so this season. Barcelona haven’t been particularly convincing tonight but have done enough, although their defending at the moment is a bit desperate. The ball is being hacked clear whenever it comes into their penalty area, allowing Napoli to come at them again and again.
87 min: A let-off for Ter Stegen, who watches the ball hit the post at his near post, after electing not to bother trying to stop a header from a tight angle. APologies, I didn’t see whose effort it was.
86 min: Milik has a shot on the turn blocked by Lenglet just inside the Barcelona penalty area.
84 min: THere’s a break in play as Luis Suarez receives treatment for a bang on the back of the head. Manolas the culprit, there. Barcelona substitution: Antoine Griezmann off, Monchu on. Griezmann has had a very quiet evening.
82 min: It’s Bayern Munich 4-1 Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where Bayern lead 7-1 on aggregate.
80 min: Napoli double-substitution: Milik and Elmas on for Insigne and Ruiz. Milik gets the ball in the net with his first touch, converting a cross from the left, but his effort is ruled out for offside.
78 min: Napoli win two corners in quick succession. Politano’s delivery is headed clear by Pique as Manolas goes to ground screaming for a penalty after ... slipping.
77 min: Luis Suarez goes down with cramp and has his leg stretched by Napoli goalkeeper David Ospina.
76 min: Napoli’s interest in the Champions League is coming to an end for this season and the foreseeable future. They finished seventh in the Serie A table and won’t be in next season’s competition.
74 min: Griezmann is fouled wide on the right by Mario Rui, who catches him with a knee to the thigh. Messi chips the ball into the Napoli penalty area, where Manolas heads clear.
72 min: At Stamford Bridge, Bayern Munich lead 3-1 on the night and 6-1 on aggregate. It’s looking very much like we’ll have a Bayern Munich v Barcelona quarter-final - a mouthwatering prospect indeed.
71 min: Lozano tries to score with his first touch, flicking a header over the bar from near the penalty spot after getting on the end of a dinked cross from Insigne.
69 min: Napoli double substitution: Politano and Lozano on for Callejon and Zielinski.
68 min: Suarae tries to pick out Griezmann on the edge of the Napoli six-yard box with a lofted up-and-under. The Frenchman’s first touch is not a good one and takes him wide of the Napoli goal.
67 min: Messi leaps like Bruce Lee to try and steer a high cross from the left goalwards. He gets good contact on the ball but his aim is way off. There wasn’t a great deal he could do about that, to be fair. He was at full stretch.
64 min: Meanwhile at Stamford Bridge, it’s 2-1 to Bayern Munich on the night against Chelsea, with the German side leading 5-1 on aggregate. The jig is very much up for Frank Lampard’s side, barring some sort of miracle. It looks to be up for Napoli too - they’ve failed to score despite a good opening 20 minutes of this second half and now Barcelona are back in the ascendency without being anywhere near their imperious best.
63 min: Semedo escapes down the left flank with a neat piece of trickery and tries to pick out Messi in the centre, but his pass is wayward.
61 min: Piotr Zieliski is booked, taking one for the team as he hacks down Messi, who was scuttling down the inside left flank. Ivan Rakitic takes the free-kick but overhits his delivery into the penalty area and puts the ball high and wide.
60 min: Ter Stegen punches Callejon’s set-piece delivery clear and the ball’s helped on its way by Griezmann and then Suarez.
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59 min: Napoli win a free-kick just inside their own half for a foul on Ziolinski by Sergi Roberto. Moments later they win a corner, when Piquet cuts out a through ball for Insigne.
57 min: Messi plays Sergi Roberto in behind the Napoli left-back Mario Rui and the midfielder plays the ball into the penalty area. Kostas Manolas cuts out his cross, with Luis Suarez hovering on his shoulder, waiting to pounce.
55 min: Napoli go on the attack again, spreading the ball from one touchline to the other. They win a throw-in deep in Barca territor, but the ball ends up at the feet of the home side’s goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
54 min: A cross from Callejon is leathered on the volley by Mertens. The ball takes a deflection and almost but doesn’t quite drop for Insigne. Napoli are completely bossing the early stages of this second half.
52 min: Another corner for Napoli. Callejon’s delivery is headed away by Pique.
50 min: Mario Rui’s corner floats towards Koulibaly, who fouls Semedo as he leaps to head the ball wide. Free-kick for Barca.
49 min: Piotr Zielinski is fouled, earning a free-kick for his side in line with the left edge of the Barcelona penalty area, about 35 yards from goal. The ball’s played towards Koulibaly, whose header from the penalty spot goes out for a corner off Pique.
48 min: Griezmann plays the ball inside to Messi, who drops his shoulder and heads for the Napoli penalty area before running out of road. Napoli clear their lines.
46 min: Napoli start the second half brightly, much like they did the first. Fabian Ruiz cuts in from the right flank and advances towards the Barcelona penalty area but is dispossessed by Gerard Pique, who clears.
Second half: Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (Agg 4-2)
46 min: Barcelona get the ball rolling, with one change in the Napoli side for the second half. Stanislav Lobotka is on for Diego Demme in the centre of the park.
VAR: I cannot stand it, but it beggars belief that it took more than four minutes to award Barcelona a penalty for a quite obvious hack on Lionel Messi from Kalidou Koulibaly, who was caught dawdling on the ball.
Half-time: Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (Agg 4-2)
Peep! An eventful first half punctuated by assorted VAR consultations draws to a close. Barcelona looked home and hosed following goals from Clement Lenglet, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, but Napoli have just grabbed themselves a lifeline courtesy of Lorenzo Insigne’s spot-kick just before the break.
45+6 min: Insigne does well to get a cross in from the byline, aiming for Jose Callejon. It’s cut out as the midfielder shaped to convert the cross from the edge of the six-yard box.
GOAL! Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (Agg 4-2) (Insigne 45+5pen)
The penalty stands and Lorenzo Insigne scores it - slotting low into the bottom left-hand corner as Marc-Andre ter Stegen dives the other way.
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45+3 min: Dries Mertens goes to ground very easily under a challenge of sorts from Ivan Rakitic. The referee blows his whistle and points to the penalty spot without a second’s hesitation. Over to you, VAR ...
45+1 min: We’ll have five minutes of added time, which doesn’t seem much as we seem to have had about 20 minutes worth of dithering over VAR decisions. Napoli, in all sorts of bother, win a penalty!
GOAL! Barcelona 3-0 Napoli (Agg 4-1) (Suarez 45pen)
With his mate Leo still hobbling, Luis Suarez grabs the ball. He fires high and right past Ospina, who dives the wrong way.
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PENALTY TO BARCELONA!
44 min: Four minutes after the foul was committed, the referee awards the spot-kick.
40 min: Koulibaly definitely fouled Messi but it seems there will be no penalty forthcoming. The only explanation I can think of is that Messi may have been adjudged to have got a little nick on the back of Koulibaly’s leg before the Napoli defender hooked his leg out from underneath him. Referee Cuneyt Cakir is jogging to the touchline to have a look at the monitor ...
39 min: Messi and Koulibaly are both rolling around on the ground holding their legs following a coming-together just inside the Napoli penalty area. Messi got his foot to the ball ahead of Koulibaly and got a kick on the back of his leg for his troubles. I suspect he’ll get a penalty for that. At the moment he’s receiving treatment.
36 min: Napoli win a free-kick out on the left flank, in line with the front of the Barca penalty area. Insigne’s delivery is headed clear by Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez gallops off on the counter-attack. Napoli’s players do well to charge back and get behind the ball as Suarez waits for reinforcements.
35 min: Apologies, not his hand - his upper arm. There was a faint touch as he controlled De Jong’s wonderful cross, but the ball didn’t appear to deviate from it’s trajectory. Not that that matters of course. Or does it? Does anyone really know anymore?
VAR! Goal disallowed.
It’s as you were at Barcelona 2-0 Napoli (Agg 3-1) after Messi’s goal is ruled out. The ball brushed against his hand as he chested it down before firing home and after a two-minute consultation, the referee rules it out.
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GOAL! Barcelona 3-0 Napoli (Agg 4-1) (Messi)
Messi extends Barca’s lead. Luis Suarez stings the palms of Ospina with a ferocious shot. The ball rebounds to De Jong, who plays a delicious cross to Messi on the edge of the six-yard box with the outside of his right boot. On the corner of the box, he gets in front of Mario Rui, chests the ball down and shoots past Ospina.
29 min: Looking at a replay of Lenglet’s opener, it seems the reason there was nobody near the Barcelona defender might have something to do with the fact that he pushed one defender into another while making his run, shoving them out of his way.
27 min: Despite their bright start, Napoli already look beaten men. Their shoulders are slumped and it’s small wonder - Barcelona are two goals up and dominating possession, forcing their opponents to chase shadows.
25 min: Luis Suarez curls a speculative effort around David Ospina but wide of the far upright.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Napoli (Agg 3-1) (Messi 23)
Ah, stop it. Messi gets the ball on the right corner of the Napoli penalty area, cuts inside, wriggles past three defenders, falls over, picks himself up again and curls the ball into the far corner. That is ridiculous.
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21 min: Free-kick for Napoli out on the right touchline, for a Jordi Alba foul on Diego Demme. The ball into the Barcelona penalty area is a good one, but the goalscorer, Clement Lenglet, heads it clear.
20 min: Leo Messi plays a cross into the box after a period of sustained possession from Barcelona, having picked up a pass from De Jong. It’s headed clear.
17 min: An excellent gallop up the field from Nelson Semedo, who beep-beeps Road Runner-style past three or four Napoli players. He’s so quick that there’s nobody up in support and he ends up running down a blind alley.
15 min: Kalidou Koulibaly tries to put Lorenzo Insigne in behind but the Napoli skipper mistimes his run and is flagged for offside.
14 min: Ivan Rakitic tries his luck from distance but sends his low driving effort a couple of yards wide of the left upright.
13 min: Gennaro Gattuso will be furious with his side for conceding such a soft goal following their excellent start to the game. They were on the front foot with Barcelona all over the place and now they find themselves behind.
12 min: There was a VAR check following that goal, to check for a foul from Lenglet in the build-up. The goal stands, which is unsurprising considering there didn’t appear to be anyone within five yards of the Frenchman as he ghosted into the mixer to head his side into the lead.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Napoli (Agg 2-1)
Barcelona open the scoring. Terrible marking at a corner - Clement Lenglet advances unopposed to head Ivan Rakitic’s corner past David Ospina. Awful from Napoli.
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7 min: On the left side of the penalty area, Mertens takes a ball from deep down and lays it off for Ziolinski on the edge of the area. He sends his effort into outer space. Barcelona aren’t at the races at all here.
5 min: From the halfway line, Piotr Zielinski spots Marc-Andre ter Stegen off his line and tries to chip him. Wide, but it was an audacious effort.
4 min: Only four minutes in and it’s Napoli who are impressing so far. Barcelona are ceding possession to the Italian side. Mertens has a shot from the edge of the penalty area blocked by Frenkie de Jong. Barcelona need to wake up.
1 min: The ball’s played wide to Mario Rui on the left touchline as Napoli enjoy a very early spell of possession. He advances down the flank, plays the ball inside and it’s directed back out to Lorenzo Insigne on the left. His cross finds its way to Lorenzo Insigne via a deflection off Gerard Pique’s shin. From the edge of the six yard box, Mertens shoots wide. A let-off for Barcelona early doors.
Champions League R16 second leg: Barcelona 0-0 Napoli (Agg 1-1)
1 min: Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir blows his whistle and the game begins after a moment’s silence for all those who have lost their lives during the pandemic. Napoli get the ball rolling in an eerily empty Camp Nou.
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Not long now: The teams are out on the Camp Nou sward and going through the last of the pre-match formalities. Kick-off is just a couple of minutes away. Barcelona wear their usual colours. Napoli’s players wear white shirts, shorts and socks.
Gennaro Gatuso speaks: “We are well aware that we have to play against a great team made up of champions,” said Napoli’s boss. “We know we’ll have to play a great game to come back home with a positive result. Maybe it still won’t be enough. The fact that Barcelona haven’t won anything this year, with the mentality they have for lifting trophies every year, this makes them stronger. It’s a team that are used to winning and once you are used to winning that’s all you want to do. So we know we’ll have Everest to climb.
Quique Setien speaks: “It hasn’t crossed my mind that this could be my last match,” said Barcelona’s manager, whose last match this might very well be should his team go out. “I’m completely calm, we have prepared well for this game and we are thinking about progressing to the finals in Portugal with the same enthusiasm we all have now. The identity of this team, of this club, has not been lost. We all know about Barca’s DNA and philosophy. No?”
Confirmed: Andrea Pirlo has been announced as Juventus’s new head coach. The former playmaker has inked a two-year deal until 30 June 2022.
OFFICIAL ✍️ | Andrea Pirlo is the new coach of the First Team.https://t.co/riVxl1enbJ#CoachPirlo pic.twitter.com/pf9QRbJ6Ll
— JuventusFC (#Stron9er 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆) (@juventusfcen) August 8, 2020
Barcelona v Napoli starting line-ups
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba, Roberto, Rakitic, De Jong, Messi Suarez, Griezmann
Napoli: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Koulibaly, Manolas, Rui, Demme, Callejon, Ruiz, Zielinski, Insigne, Mertens
News from Italy: Andrea Pirlo is about to become the new Juventus manager on the day Maurizio Sarri was sacked following their exit from the Champions League at the hands of Lyon last night.
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How the first leg unfolded ...
Dries Mertens put Napoli ahead on the half-hour mark in Italy, before Antoine Griezmann equalised for Barcelona. Read on ...
Tonight’s match officials
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Referee: Cuneyt Çakır (Turkey)
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Assistant referees: Bahattin Duran and Tarik Ongun
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Fourth official: Halil Umut Meler
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Video Assistant Referee: Mete Kalkavan
Early team news
Unbeaten in their past 35 - count them – Champions League matches at home, Barcelona are without Sergio Busquets tonight, their defensive midfielder suspended. Arturo Vidal also sits this game out on the naughty step, while Samuel Umtiti is out with a knee injury. Ousmane Dembele is back training following a knee injury but seems fairly unlikely to feature tonight.
For Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli, who are hoping to advance beyond this stage of the competition for the first time in their history, Nikola Maksimovic is a doubt, while Kostas Manolas has apparently been passed fit. Skipper and winger Lorenzo Insigne is a major doubt, having suffered a thigh injury that forced him out of his side’s win over Lazio last Sunday. He could be replaced by Eljif Elmas, Hirving Lozano or Matteo Politano.
Champions League R16 second leg: Barcelona v Napoli (Agg 1-1)
Barcelona have the edge as the sides convene at a deserted Camp Nou, to see who will advance to a quarter-final against Bayer ... sorry, Chelsea or Bayern Munich. It finished all square at the San Paolo Stadium in late February and over five months later, we’ll finally have a winner. Kick-off is at 8pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
