In the first leg of the Europa League knockout play-offs, Barcelona drew 1-1 at home to Napoli. In the 29th minute, Napoli unleashed a series of attacks on the right and Zelinski broke the deadlock with a series of shots. In the 59th minute, Ferran Torres scored a penalty created by Adama Traore. Throughout the game, Although Felan Torres saved the penalty, he also wasted many good chances to score goals.
Barca scored 21 shots at Camp Nou, but could only draw Napoli on penalties, and the focus player was undoubtedly Ferran Torres, who scored a penalty for Barca, and Barca's winter signings were all deflected in 6 shots in addition to penalties, and at least 3 of them had excellent scoring opportunities directly against the goalkeeper.
As the Europa League begins, Barca face a tough schedule in Europa League Sunday La Liga on Thursday, Barca boss Xavi admitted before the game that the team is going to start rotating, Alves did not register for the Europa League, Xavi chose Mingeza as a right-back, Araujo's calf injury is not healed, and Pique and Eric Garcia continue to partner at centre-back. In midfield, veteran Busquets was given a break, Frenki De Jong switched to the back, and Nico started with Pedri as midfielder. In the front line, three forwards brought in in in the winter started at the same time, with Aubameyang as the center and Adama Traore and Ferran Torres as wing wingers.
Barca still pressed forward and started with midfield possession, while Napoli played its defensive counter-attack with peace of mind and did not compete with Barca for midfield. In the opening 5 minutes, Barca's tactics worked, Aubameyang pressed the ball forward, Ferran Torres crossed to the middle, and Pedri scored slightly higher than the goal when the penalty area line was unguarded, which also opened the game for Barca to shoot.
Napoli paid attention to defending Adama, the breakthrough point of Barca's first two league games, but Barca's overall attack was not greatly affected, Aubameyang and Nico both got shots 20 minutes ago, but in the 22nd minute Napoli's first counterattack was quite threatening, and Aumensie's small angle was saved by Ter Stegen.
After a brief shock, Barca had their second chance to score, and in the 28th minute, Aubameyang and Ferran counter-attacked, and Ferran Torres was once again given the opportunity to face the goalkeeper directly on the edge of the penalty area. Napoli's attacking efficiency is much higher than Barca's, and a minute later, Napoli, which hit the Barca penalty area for the second time, scored, and Zelinsky's shot was saved to give the score a 1-0 lead.
Despite being scored by the Italians, the tone of the game did not change, Barça still occupied the full initiative, Ferran Torres, whether it was an unguarded shot outside the box or a header inside the box, was deflected out of the box, as the most expensive player introduced by Barca in the winter, Ferran Torres only scored 1 goal in 5 games, and the young man has shown impatience. Barca had seven shots on goal in the first half, with only one from Nico on target, while Napoli scored all three of their two attacks and scored a goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Xavi warmed up the three main players Busquets, Garvey and Dembele, but the problem with Barca was not that the game was not played well, nor that they could not create scoring opportunities, but that many shots were not scored or even played out of the goal frame. In the 53rd minute, Nico's long-range shot was saved, and interestingly, Barca's only two shots were in the frame of the goal, and the three forwards had not yet recorded a shot.
Finally, in the 57th minute, VAR saw Adama's cross hit Juan Jesus' outstretched hand and awarded a penalty, and Ferran petitioned for a penalty to equalize, 1-1. After the equaliser, Barca still did not stop the high-pressure attack, in the 63rd minute, after Aubameyang completed the shot, Barca has completed 13 shots on goal. Harvey replaced Garvey, Dembele and Busquets in the 65th minute to keep the team physically impacting opponents, but the problem was that the three who were replaced were not shooters and failed to solve the core problems of the team. Dembele came out with some boos from camp Nou fans, but after completing a long-range shot and a breakthrough, he already received applause from everyone.
Finally, in the 85th minute, Xavi sent Luc De Jong, the team's best scorer, and the problem was that the Dutch center could not guarantee a magical performance of scoring in 10 minutes, although Barca got three more scoring opportunities in the last few minutes, and in the 88th minute, Dembele burst into the box, and Ferran Torres was again given a chance to shoot from the goalkeeper on the left side, but unfortunately he played high again. In the 90th minute, Dest crossed, Luc De Jong completed a wonderful back-hook shot, but unfortunately the ball brushed the goalpost, and in the 92nd minute, Luc De Jong returned to Pass Phelan, and the plug-in Ferran was unguarded to hit the ball high and missed the last scoring opportunity. In the entire second half, Napoli only had one shot from Mertens.
At the final whistle, Ferran Torres crouched on the turf and cried, he knew that he had completed a nightmare game, except for penalties, Ferran completed 6 shots on goal for the team the most, but did not have 1 shot inside the frame, he had at least 3 chances to score, but not even the chance to save the opponent goalkeeper.
The best defensive line in Serie A is a draw with Barca, and Napoli becomes a replica of the Italian team
Napoli's match against Barca is almost a replica of Italy vs. Spain at the European Championship.
After taking office in 2018, Mancini used a set of aggressive tactics to give the previously muddled Italian national team a new look. As soon as the European Championship was unveiled, the performance of the Blues made the public shine, but in fact, the Italian team's ball control flow play had begun long before the European Championship. The team won all three games in the group stage, crossed Austria in the knockout stages, and beat Belgium with a convincing performance, and people believed that the team's possession had reached its peak – until it met Spain.
Mancho eventually led the team to the top, but the semi-final with Spain was one of the most awkward clips on the road to the championship. In the whole game, Italy had less than 30% of the ball, and the team was completely suppressed by Enrique's team for most of the time, and if it were not for the help of luck and the bravery of Donnarumma, the Italian would have reached the final.
The same is true of Naples. Among the 20 teams in Serie A this season, Spalletti's team has topped the list in a number of key statistics such as possession rate, passing number, pass success rate and so on. Napoli averaged 59.7% of the ball per game, close to 60%, and was definitely the strongest team in Serie A. Italy and Spain meet on the narrow road, who can control the ball at their feet? Napoli away to Camp Nou, can we continue to insist on "dominating me"?
The course of the game gives the answer. Napoli had exactly 33.3 percent possession and only half as many passes as Barca. In the first half, Spalletti's side and the Red and Blue team played back and forth, and the performance was a slap in the face, but after returning from the midfield break, Napoli was clearly lacking in stamina. Interestingly, both the Italian national team and Napoli were able to open the scoring in a disadvantageous situation for most of the time, and eventually brought back a draw from the game, even scoring in a very similar way.
In the semi-finals at Wembley, the Italians relied on The Younger's single-handed ride; at Camp Nou, the hero became Zelinsky. Throughout the match, Napoli and Barca had a 4-21 shooting ratio, but the Italian team's four shots were all targeted and more efficient.
Throughout the game, Napoli's three midfielders played at a very high level. Zelinski scored his second europa League goal of the season and almost delivered a superb assist to centre-forward Aumensim; Anguiza was omnipresent on the pitch, attacking and defending well, and as he came off the field due to injury in the 82nd minute of the game, Napoli fell into full passivity; Favian Ruiz's contract expired a year later, and his next encounter with the red and blue clubs may not be the opponent, but the Spanish midfielder is still dutiful, dancing with the ball in the first half, fighting in the difficult moments of the second half.
However, similar to Inter's match against Liverpool the day before, Napoli's bench has a very clear disadvantage over Barca. Memphis Depay and Ansu Fati were missing from the red and blue tents, but Xavi could still make three substitutions in the 65th minute: Garvey and Busquets let the home team gradually take over the game, while Dembele became a nightmare for the sky blue defense in the final 30 minutes. In contrast, Spalletti's wife was insoluble, and after Angela was injured, the team had to make up for it, allowing substitutes Malqu and Mario Rui to make cameo appearances at the full-back. Who says four full-backs are on the same page, which is the patent of Ferguson or Emery?
Napoli gritted their teeth and held on to a 1-1 draw to the end. After giving up the top spot in Serie A in the first half of the season, the team has gradually withdrawn from public attention, but Napoli is still the team that conceded the fewest goals in Serie A, behind Manchester City and Sevilla in the five major leagues. In this "Maradonadby", Napoli did not win in the way maradona, and finally handed over the answer by excellent defense.
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