And here is that report. That’s all from me. Bye!
While you wait for a report on this game, we’ve also got a Championship roundup for you:
Here’s a report on Bayern Munich’s resounding win at Chelsea:
The second half was much more entertaining than the first, helped by Barcelona getting both full-backs to make late runs down the flanks, and by Napoli making more concerted attempts to fashion their own chances one the visitors had an away goal. Busquets’ pass to Semedo in the build-up to that goal was probably the finest individual moment of the game, though Messi did try to better it without quite finding the pocket of penalty-area space he needs to get a shot on goal. Napoli will have to score in Barcelona, but with Vidal and Busquets, two of tonight’s better performers, both out they’ve surely got a chance.
Final score: Napoli 1-1 Barcelona
90+6 mins: It’s all over! Barcelona have a slender advantage at the end of the first leg, but will have to do without both Busquets and Vidal for the second.
90+5 mins: Manolas fouls Umtiti as both compete for the corner, so nothing comes of it. We slip into stoppage time at the end of stoppage time.
90+5 mins: Mario Rui’s cross deflects off Semedo, and Napoli will end the game with a corner.
90+3 mins: Pique turned an ankle when landing after beating Zielinski to a high ball. Lenglet will replace him for the closing stages.
90+1 mins: Stoppage time has begun. There will be at least five minutes, perhaps more because Pique has just gone to ground. There’s nobody near him, so there is presumably some actual pain involved.
Red card! Arturo Vidal has been sent off!
89 mins: Mario Rui leaps up and butts heads with Vidal, both players pushing into their opponent. They are both booked, so Vidal, cautioned about half a second earlier for the foul, is off!
Updated
88 mins: Vidal slides in late on Mario Rui. He couldn’t have more clearly demanded a yellow card had he submitted a written application.
88 mins: Griezmann goes off, and Ansu Fati comes on.
87 mins: Messi tees up Arthur, who from 25 yards shoots well over the bar.
84 mins: Napoli get the ball into the Barcelona penalty area, but Insigne ignores a variety of teammates to attempt an unlikely curler that curls well wide.
83 mins: A lovely dribble from Messi, who gets into the box, goes this way and that, looks like he might conjure a goal from nothing, and then runs straight into Maksimovic.
80 mins: De Jong leads a break, does well to stay on his feet as various Napoli players nibble at his ankles, and then plays a useless pass to the left which only travels a few feet.
79 mins: In tonight’s other Champions League game Bayern Munich are ripping Chelsea into all sorts of shreds. It’s 3-0 now, with two goals from Gnabry and one from Lewandowski.
78 mins: Barcelona attack again, with only seven men behind the ball this time. Messi tries to beat them all single-handed, but fails.
76 mins: Messi curls the corner to the far post, where Umtiti outjumps Ospina but heads over!
75 mins: A nice move from Barcelona ends with Messi getting the ball inside the area for the first time. He takes a touch, opens his body, but is well closed down by Nikola Maksimovic and the ball goes out for a corner.
63 mins: Napoli bring Matteo Politano on for Callejon.
72 mins: De Jong gets into the area, with Vidal, Griezmann and Messi to his right waiting for a cross, which the Dutchman proceeds to hopelessly mishit, sending the ball spinning straight to Ospina.
70 mins: Messi runs into the area but into a thicket of defenders, and the ball breaks off them to Semedo, who half-volleys well wide.
66 mins: Messi is booked for trying to score. Quite harsh, I think - both players had to throw themselves at the ball; if Messi had turned it in, or even hit it wide, and Ospina made contact with his legs, the keeper wouldn’t have been booked.
Updated
66 mins: I’m not sure where all this goalmouth action has come from. The only goalmouth action happening currently however involves the Napoli physios, and Ospina.
64 mins: And a chance at the other end! This comes from a long clearance from Ter Stegen, and ends with Messi playing in Vidal on the right and then flinging himself at the low centre, but he only makes contact with Ospina, who palms the ball away.
63 mins: And a fantastic chance for Napoli! Busquets’ pass is intercepted and the home side spring forward. The ball is played to Milik, who passes to Callejon, in space and inside the area, but Ter Stegen is out quickly to get in the way of his shot.
61 mins: Chance! Insigne run down the left, cuts between Vidal and Pique into the area, and spears a shot towards goal from the left side of the area, which Ter Stegen saves.
60 mins: Another decent run from a full-back, this time Junior Firpo being found by Umtiti’s long pass, but he checks back and the momentum is lost.
GOAL! Napoli 1-1 Barcelona (Griezmann, 57 mins)
Finally, Barcelona unpick the Napoli defence! Semedo’s barnstorming run down the right is the key, and after he’s picked out by Busquets a first-time centre finds Griezmann in the middle, whose finish is excellent.
Updated
56 mins: Barcelona make their first change, revolutionising their team by replacing the midfielder Ivan Rakitic with the midfielder Arthur.
54 mins: Mertens will have to go off as a result of that challenge with Busquets. Arkadiusz Milik comes on.
52 mins: Barça are throwing numbers at the problem, and have six players in the final 20 yards of the pitch when their move ends with an overhit cross.
49 mins: Busquets is booked for fouling Mertens. It’s an honest challenge, but Mertens kicks the bottom of his boot, falls to the floor and writhes around in agony. Barely a foul in my opinion, though on BT Sport Ian Darke suggests the Spaniard is lucky to stay on the p itch. Busquets will miss the second leg as a result (Nelson Semedo is the only other Barcelona player a booking away from suspension).
48 mins: Action has resumed in familiar vein, with Barcelona keeping the ball and Napoli keeping their shape. The only obvious change is that Messi isn’t dropping anywhere in search of the ball, staying up front with Griezmann and hoping someone else can bring it to them. They can’t.
46 mins: Peeeeeeep! The second half is under way.
The players are back on the field. It looks like both teams are unchanged.
“Mertens, already well-beloved by Napoli fans, is well on the way to becoming Napoli’s highest all-time goal scorer, more than idol Maradona and yet his president still hasn’t agreed terms for his contract renewal,” writes Aldredo Hamill. “What does he want? Mertens to split the Red Sea?” It does seem puzzling, but Mertens will turn 33 in March and perhaps they’ve just started their succession planning a little prematurely.
The shotometer hasn’t had a lot of use so far: Napoli have had three shots, two on target, and Barcelona two, both from outside the area, one off target and one hit straight into a defender’s legs.
Half time: Napoli 1-0 Barcelona
45+1 mins: A single minute of stoppage time ends with no further goalmouth action. “If its possible, I think Barça have gotten worse since getting rid of Valverde,” writes Paul Fitzgerald. “Regressed all the way back to the early 2010s when players like Busquets were useful.” I’ve seen a couple of games since Setien’s appointment, without being at all impressed. Against a massed defence, they could do with some pace both in wide positions and from midfield, running beyond the forward line. Napoli are defending well, but they aren’t really being stretched.
Updated
44 mins: Vidal’s cross gives Ospina some more catching practise.
42 mins: Napoli win a free-kick on the left wing, Busquets punished for obstruction after sitting on a loose ball. It’s centred, cleared, re-centred, squared and finally Manolas sidefoots a yard wide! Napoli have done a lot more chance-creation than Barcelona so far.
41 mins: Mertens’ goal has made him Napoli’s joint-highest goalscorer in all history.
💙 - Dries Mertens has tied Marek Hamšík for most goals for Napoli in all competitions
— Gracenote Live (@GracenoteLive) February 25, 2020
121 - Marek Hamšík
121 - Dries Mertens
115 - Diego Maradona#NAPBAR #UCL
37 mins: Barcelona look for a way to pick the lock. Messi this time drops deep, rather than pulling wide. Whichever, he’s a long way from goal and so is the ball.
Updated
34 mins: Rakitic’s driven cross deflects to Ospina, who stoops to pick it up. Barcelona have had 65% of possession but this is the most work he has had to do tonight.
31 mins: The ball breaks to Junior Firpo but he can’t control, it bounces off his legs to Zielinski and Napoli are suddenly three on two. He passes across the edge of the area to Mertens on the other side, and he takes a touch to set the ball before stroking a lovely curling shot into the far corner!
Updated
GOAL! Napoli 1-0 Barcelona (Mertens, 30 mins)
That’s a peach of a goal! What a soft fruit that is!
Updated
27 mins: Barcelona win the ball on the halfway line, and Messi turns and for the first time sees space in front of him. There are three defenders, and Griezmann in support to the left, but he waits too long before passing and the ball hits Manolas.
25 mins: Busquets brings down Demme, who stays down in apparent agony, as if impaled on a javelin. Replays suggest there wasn’t actually much contact.
24 mins: Another spell of Barcelona possession, this one ending with De Jong’s attempted backheel flick to Messi on the edge of the area.
21 mins: Barcelona pass the ball for a while, well away from Napoli’s goal. Messi drifts right in search of space, but can’t find possession so easily.
17 mins: Chance! Callejon is released into space on the right by a fine first-time pass from Fabian Ruiz, but he attempts to find Zielinski and the ball deflects off a defender to Ter Stegen. Replays suggest Callejon was also narrowly offside but still, encouraging.
14 mins: Most of the play so far has been congested inside a 30-yard strip of pitch between the edge of Napoli’s area and the edge of the centre circle, with both teams struggling to break out of it.
10 mins: Another shot! Mertens, possibly offside, runs onto Insigne’s pass, cuts inside Pique and shoots into the arms of Ter Stegen from the left-hand corner of the area.
9 mins: A shot! Messi plays a one-two with Griezmann and shoots over the bar from 20 yards, with four defenders closing him down.
7 mins: More Barcelona possession. Napoli have all 10 outfield players behind the ball while this is going on, and Barça eventually run out of space.
4 mins: Napoli find Insigne in space on the left, but instead of running into more space he cuts inside where it’s more congested and then hits a pass into Busquets’ leg.
2 mins: Barcelona are doing some early possession-hogging, none of it very threatening.
1 min: Peeeeep! Action!
The players are out, anthems have been played, hands shaken and coin tossed. Lorenzo Insigne appeared to crack quite a good gag at the coin toss, to judge from Messi’s grin. Anyway, action.
The players are in the tunnel. Nearly football time!
Dries Mertens can do some incredible things with bubble gum:
Given the conditions, lots of fans seem to think it’s acceptable to wear these:
And lots of them are also wearing surgical masks.
Team news update: Umtiti and De Jong come in for Barcelona, with Lenglet and Arthur dropping to the bench. Napoli also make two changes, Zielinski and Callejon coming into the starting XI while Politano and Elmas are among the substitutes.
If you don’t currently have a headache and for some reason would like one, Barcelona can sort you out in just 99 seconds:
Everything you n̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ already know about #NapoliBarça in the UEFA @ChampionsLeague ... pic.twitter.com/8lVPdWhAS5
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 25, 2020
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and the names upon them were these:
Napoli: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Maksimovic, Rui, Fabian, Demme, Zielinski, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne. Subs: Meret, Allan, Elmas, Luperto, Politano, Hysaj, Milik.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Nelson Semedo, Pique, Umtiti, Firpo, Busquets, Rakitic, de Jong, Vidal, Messi, Griezmann. Subs: Arthur, Neto, Lenglet, Puig, Fati, Araujo, Akieme.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany).
📌 StartingXI: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Maksimovic, Mario Rui, Fabian, Demme, Zielinski, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne.
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) February 25, 2020
⚽ #NAPBAR
🏆 @ChampionsLeague
💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre pic.twitter.com/XWDzAmt6YF
The starting 1️⃣1️⃣ for #NapoliBarça!
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 25, 2020
Hello world!
This is a massive week for Barcelona. Massive. Huge. First their Champions League hopes are on the line against Napoli, and then they visit Real Madrid in an explosive top-of-the-table La Liga megaclash on Sunday. Of course every fool knows that European glory is their absolute toppermost priority this and every season, but if there’s any domestic fixture that can’t be ignored it’s their next one, particularly with Barça protecting a wafer-thin two-point cushion at the top of the table. So, to summarise, we’ll take each game as it comes, yeah?
There’s not much you can learn from the teams’ head-to-head record, because they don’t have one: this is the very first Barça-Napoli encounter. And there’s very little to be gained from examining the managers’ Champions League pedigree, because they don’t have one: for both of them this is their debut in the competition. “It’s exciting for me to start this Champions League journey in a stadium like this with so much passion and history,” trilled Quique Setien. “There’s no better place to start.”
As for Napoli’s Gennaro Gattuso, he did play six times against Barcelona in the Champions League as a player, but there’s not much to be gleaned there either: he won two, drew two and lost two. “When I played against Barca it seemed that they were from another category because they didn’t let you see the ball,” he says. “We know therefore that we will face an opponent of a stratospheric level, and we know that the risks are big, but having said that I don’t want my players to be afraid. Respect for Barcelona is maximum, but I want a Napoli that is not afraid and that will play with their heads held high.”
If it’s half as fun as the last Italy v Spain encounter in the Champions League, namely Atalanta’s thrashing of a profligate Valencia last Wednesday, then we’re in for a treat. Here’s a confusing picture of the Stadio San Paolo, apparently taken with an Equirectangular Panorama. Welcome!
