Robert Lewandowski’s opening goal was cancelled out by Victor Osimhen as Napoli rallied to keep visiting Barcelona to a somber 1-1 draw in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday.
The rivals, who were both suffering this season and were champions in the Spanish and Italian divisions the previous year, played a dreadful match in which neither team had any offensive flair or bite.Reported by News daily.
Barcelona, which is currently third in La Liga, is eight points behind leaders Real Madrid. In the first half, Barcelona dominated a disorganized Napoli team that could hardly get outside of their own half.
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Napoli, under the direction of their new coach, Francesco Calzona, was leading their Serie A championship defense in ruins when they faced Barça in their first Champions League knockout encounter in three years.
Napoli were frustrated by Barça’s high pressing, missing simple passes and handing the ball to the visitors who also looked short of ideas in possession.
That woke up Napoli and Osimhen, in his first game since playing for Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, equalised 15 minutes later with a fine swivelling strike from inside the box to leave the tie evenly poised before the return leg in Spain on 12 March.
“It is not a good result for the return leg,” the Barcelona manager, Xavi Hernández, told Movistar Plus. “We were better in all aspects of the game, we had to control and we struggled, we weren’t effective up front, it was a summary of our season.”
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