It was a dominant performance from Xavi’s side as they scored through Jordi Alba, Frenkie de Jong, Gerard Pique and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to seal the win.
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Barcelona thrashed Napoli 4-2 in the Europa League play-off second leg fixture at Diego Armando Stadium on Thursday. The Catalan club secured a 5-3 aggregate victory to go through to the last-16 of the competition. It was a dominant performance from Xavi’s side as they scored three times in the first half through Jordi Alba, Frenkie de Jong and Gerard Pique before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finished the job with a fourth just before the hour-mark. Meanwhile Lorenzo Insigne and Matteo Politano netted for Napoli.
FULL TIME! #NapoliBarça pic.twitter.com/XM5EHP5uxP
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 24, 2022
Barcelona had an impressive start to the game, taking the lead inside the open eight minutes courtesy of a devastating breakaway move. It all started with Insigne’s poorly taken corner kick which went straight to Aubameyang, who led the quick counter-attack.
The Gabon striker found Adama Traore, who used his pace and physicality to shrug off challenges from Kalidou Koulibaly and Amir Rahmani before laying it off to Alba to finish expertly. The opening goal displayed the strengths of Barcelona’s new-look attack.
Five minutes later, Barcelona doubled the lead courtesy of a superb long-range effort from De Jong. Rahmani’s poor defensive header fell to the path of Torres who back-heeled it to De Jong and the Dutchman unleashed a beautiful right-foot curler that went into the top corner.
Meanwhile at the other end, goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen gave a penalty away after bringing down Victor Osimhen just inside the box. Insigne stepped up and converted the spot-kick to halve the deficit on 23 minutes.
Barcelona continued to push forward for a third as Aubameuang’s effort from inside the box deflected off Rahmani and went wide. The visitors deservedly scored their third goal on the stroke of half-time, when Kouilibaly’s defensive header from De Jong’s corner-kick fell to Pedri outside the box, who found Torres on the left and the 21-year-old laid the ball to Alba to put in a low cross which deflected off the defender and fell kindly for Pique to slot home.
After the break, Traore’s cross fell to De Jong in front of goal but Rahmani made a crucial block to deny the Dutch midfielder. De Jong once again played the ball to Traore on the right, who cut inside and passed it to Aubameyang to fire into the top corner on 59 minutes. It was the 32-year-old striker’s fourth goal in two games.
Few moments later, Aubameyang had a chance to complete his brace when he was released on goal by Pedri’s through ball, but a heavy first-touch allowed Alex Meret to quickly come off his line and collect the ball.
Against the run of play, Napoli scored their second of the night on 87 minutes, when Nico Gonazalez was dispossessed inside his own penalty area, Politano latched on to the loose ball and fired home past Ter Stegen at the near post with a powerful left-foot strike.
