Barcelona clearly dominated the proceedings in terms of ball possession and attempts on goal but Napoli defended very well and were effective on the counter’s
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Barcelona head coach Xavi felt his side ‘dominated’ the 1-1 draw against Napoli in the Europa League play-off first leg match at Camp Nou on Thursday and should have won the game by “two clear goals”. Piotr Zielinski opened the scoring for Napoli in the first half before Ferran Torres leveled the score from the penalty spot to make it all square going into the second leg in Naples. The hosts clearly dominated the proceedings in terms of ball possession and attempts on goal but Napoli defended very well and were effective on the counter’s.
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— Xavi’s take on #BarçaNapoli pic.twitter.com/XhPTr6ANFJ
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 17, 2022
“All we lacked was the finishing,” said the coach in his press conference
“We moved the ball around well and had 20 scoring opportunities, seven of them really clear-cut. Considering the way we played, we deserved the victory, even by more than two clear goals.
“We are in the Europa League, it is not a friendly, so the result is insufficient, but I am happy with the performance.
“It’s a pity we didn’t transform our domination into more goals. The lads played a fluid style of football, we attacked to the end and tried in every way to score.”
The decisive moment of the match was a Adama Traore cross that grazed the fingertips of Juan Jesus inside the box. Nobody had complained at the time, but the referee was called back by VAR and awarded the penalty.
Torres stepped up and calmly converted the spot-kick to make the score 1-1. There were real doubts over the penalty, as the Traore cross didn’t seem to change direction after it grazed a fingertip and the arm was in a fairly natural position.
“I don’t like the new rules,” added Xavi. “In my opinion, all handballs should be penalised. You can’t use your feet in basketball, so you can’t use your hands in football.
“As for the Napoli goal, the offside rule on interfering with play is absurd, but we accept those are the rules. What I would introduce is some way of timing the actual football played, so it would wipe out simulation and time-wasting.”
Meanwhile Torres didn’t have a great game, though he scored the equaliser, the Spanish forward missed several good chances from open play. “I am very happy that he is playing for Barcelona and hope he will be here for a long time. We must have faith, I’m sure he will score many goals. The Barcelona jersey weighs more heavily than others, but he should know that he has our absolute trust.”
