The Catalan club now will have to deploy a full-strength team in the second leg in Turkey next week, three days before the El Classico.
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Barcelona were held to a goalless draw against Galatasaray in the Europa League last-16 first leg fixture at Camp Nou on Thursday. Head coach Xavi was disappointed with his side’s performance as they failed to break through a resolute Galasaray defence. The Catalan club now will have to deploy a full-strength team in the second leg in Turkey next week, three days before the El Classico.
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Barca played with good intensity in the first-half and were passing the ball quickly but very few goalscoring opportunities were created. The front-three wasn’t getting involved as much as they were in the previous games. Apart from Depay, nobody looked threatening to score.
Xavi was quick to realise this and introduced Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets and Ousmane Dembele at the interval in place of Ronald Araujo, Nico Gonzalez and Ferran Torres respectively. Busquets could have made an impact within ten minutes of coming on, but his header from Depay’s cross was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Inaki Pena.
Busquets’s introduction allowed Pedri and De Jong to push further up and the latter got the best chance of the match on 74 minutes. Pierre-Emerick Aubameuynag’s bicycle kick fell to the Dutchman six yards out, but the 24-year-old’s crumbling effort hit the post.
Meanwhile the visiting goalkeeper Pena made some fine saves to help his team earn a crucial draw away from home in the two-legged tie. Barca now head to Istanbul next week needing to win if they want to progress to the quarter-final stage of the competition.
“It’s not a good result, playing at home,” he said in his post-match press conference. “In the second half, we have been something better but when you lower the intensity, you lower everything.
“In the end of the second half, we have been better. We have divided more, we have played with pure wingers.
“I have put on Pique to divide more, he does that more than Ronald
“Iñaki has been spectacular, but we have not been like in the recent games.
“It’s a null combat. We will go to play in Istanbul as we did in Naples.”
