*Arsenal beat Porto in shootouts to reach first quarter final since 2010
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Victor Osimhen failed to recreate his first leg Round of 16 form last night as Barcelona defeated Napoli 3-1 ( 4-2 aggregate) to cruise into the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2020.
It was a deserved win for the Catalan giants on a night they played better than their visitors from Naples.
The defeated denied Osimhen and his teammates a €10million win bonus bonus from club owner, Aurelio’s De Laurentiis, if they had succeeded in knocking out Barcelona.
Speaking to TV cameras ahead of the kick-off, De Laurentiis was asked about reports in Italy which claimed he had promised his players a bonus of €10m (just over £8.5m) if they won. And he said: “You are very well informed. It’s more than €10 million, in fact…” As it transpired, though, he’ll get to keep his money.
Although with scores at 2-1, (3-2 aggregate) Osimhen was denied a penalty that if scored, would have changed the course of the game.
Osimhen ran into the box and went down when Barcelona central defender Pau Cubarsi seemed to mistime the challenge and tread on the Nigerian international’s toes.
The referee waved play on and VAR very quickly agreed, without taking very long reviewing the available footage.
Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo put Barca on their way, but the hosts were made to work hard by the Italians who pulled one back through Amir Rrahmani.
A back-and-forth encounter was eventually settled by Robert Lewandowski’s close-range finish with seven minutes of normal time remaining.
Following an brisk opening, Barcelona landed a mighty one-two punch on Napoli with two goals in three minutes.
First, 20 year-old midfielder Lopez took his chance to impress on the big stage as he stroked home a side-footed finish on 15 minutes after Lewandowski dummied Raphinha’s low cross.
Former Leeds winger Raphinha was also at the centre of Barcelona’s second, leading a counter-attack and curling a shot off the post before Manchester City loanee Cancelo scored from the rebound.
Barcelona however ceded momentum, and Napoli pulled one back on the half hour when Kosovan centre-back Rrahmani ventured forward to slot past Marc-Andre ter Stegen following a cutback from the right.
Napoli pushed hard for an equaliser, and missed their best chance with 10 minutes remaining as Jesper Lindstrom sent a free header wide from seven yards.
In the other Round of 16 second leg game last night, Arsenal qualified for the quarter finals for the first time since 2010 after penalty shootouts.
The London Gunners won the second leg 1-0 to cancel out the lone goal deficit from the first leg in Porto. There was no goal in the extra time for the game to drag into penalty shootouts. It ended 4-2 in favour of the English team as Porto missed two of their spot kicks
RESULTS
Barcelona 3-1 Napoli
(4-2 agg)
Arsenal 1-0 FC Porto
( 1-1 agg. Pen. 4-2)
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