Despite all those lingering doubts, Barcelona made to the next round of the Champions League courtesy of Barcelona's magician, Lionel Messi. Now for Messi, a bigger Bayern test awaits!
FC Barcelona - 3 | Napoli - 1
If there was any doubt regarding whether Barcelona's fate lies in the hand of a single man, this match cleared all that doubt. Barcelona will stay alive so far Messi can create magic like this continuously.
If Barcelona fans were looking for hope in this match, they most probably would have been left with mixed feelings. Barcelona did more than enough to secure the progress but not in a convincing fashion.
Barcelona went with a 4-3-3 formation with a midfield of Rakitic, De Jong, and Roberto. The absence of Busquets and Vidal was felt clearly, with only De Jong able to hold his end up. De Jong showed us why he is considered world-class.
Lionel Messi manages to break the Napoli Onslaught
It was expected that Gattuso's side will produce a big fight. It's not in their manager's nature to go down without a fight, and they did that. In the earlier exchanges, they had a couple of good chances, even though one has to assume that Ter Styegand had all those covered.
It took some time for Barcelona to even get a grip on the proceedings. But when they got, they immediately made the impact. Against the run of play, the first goal came from a corner with Lenglet brilliantly heading the ball past the keeper. That goal settled Barcelona's nerves a lot. Even though it was reviewed, it was rightly given as a goal.
In the 23rd minute, Messi showcased to the world why he is the Best in the world scoring a rather impossible goal. He skipped past a host of defenders into the box, and with falling over he found enough space to curl the ball past a hapless Ospina. In the 30th minute, Messi doubled his tally but was ruled out by VAR for a non-existing handball.
From then on, Barcelona looked solid and Napoli had that feeling of getting overrun by Messi and company. In the 43rd minute, Messi won a penalty for Barcelona in the process of getting injured. Saurez converted to send Barcelona 3-0 up. The game would have ended there itself but Rakitic gave Napoli a lifeline by conceding a penalty which they duly converted.
Barcelona Struggle after the Break
Messi was affected by the knock he received from the first half and he was more interested in preserving his fitness. That means Barcelona had no one forcing the issue. At the same time, Napoli was revitalized by that late goal in the first half.
Despite all the pressure, Barcelona held on to make sure the scoreline remain intact. It was a risky strategy that paid off. Such an approach will not work well with Bayern, but then with Messi around anything is possible. And indeed that's Barcelona's only strategy!
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