Barcelona vs Galatasaray: La Liga side held to a goalless draw in the Europa League last-16 clash

Barcelona were held to a goalless draw by Galasaray in the Europa League last-16 first leg fixture at Camp Nou on Thursday. The Catalan club was clearly the better side throughout the 90 minutes but failed to find the breakthrough in front of their home crowd. Meanwhile the Turkish side put up a solid show at the back and earned a very good result away from home. Barca created more than 15 chances but weren’t clinical in front of goal. 

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The first 45 minutes was played with good intensity as both teams passed the ball quickly and tried to get the ball to the attacking third as soon as possible. Barca were clearly the more attack-minded team while Galatasaray maintained an organised defence, giving very little space to the opposition to work with. 

Early in the game, Jordi Alba’s long ball from the back found Memphis Depay’s run inside the penalty area, but Maracao stayed with the attacker to thwart the danger. Few minutes later, Alba delivered a good low cross after some quick passing, involving Depay and Pedri, but Ferran Torres couldn’t make a good connection under pressure from the defender at the near post. 

The visiting keeper Inaki Pena made a full-stretch save to deny Depay from a free-kick. Galasaray’s first real chance came on 35 minutes when Muhammed Kerem Akturkoglu made a brilliant run down the left flank, got past Sergino Dest, cut inside Frenkie de Jong and unleashed a beautiful right-foot curler which went just over the crossbar. At the other end, Pena once again made a full-stretch diving save to push away Depay’s right-foot curler from the left.  

Xavi was not happy with the first-half performance and made a triple substitution at half-time, with Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Ousmane Dembele coming on to add more experience and spark. 

As the game progressed, Barca continued to push men forward and ten minutes into the second half, Busquets’ header from Depay cross was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Pena. Adama Traore and Dembele saw their efforts from distance travel just over the bar before Alba’s beautiful volley went agonizingly wide. 

Barca’s best chance of the match came on 74 minutes when Traore went past two defender’s on the right flank and delivered a cross that fell to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who tried to finish with a bicycle kick but turned into a pass inside the six yard box for De Jong, whose first-time crumbling effort hit the inside of the post and came out. 

As the game entered the final 10 minutes, Barca tried to make things happen but Glatasaray put 11 men behind the ball and the home side’s frustration grew. This is a frustrating night because of the result and performance, which wasn’t up to the standards we have seen lately. 

Barca will travel to Turkey for the second leg on 17th March, four days before the El Classico. And having to play their best team for both the matches is the worst news to come from tonight.