Barcelona have reached the Champions League quarter-finals after defeating Napoli 3-1 in their last-16 second leg tie.
Barca took the lead in the 15th minute after Raphinha’s low cross found Fermin Lopez inside the box, who calmly stroked the ball into the net.
The Catalan club doubled their advantage just two minutes later when Raphinha’s effort struck the right-hand post and rebounded into the path of Joao Cancelo, who finished with composure.
Napoli pulled a goal back just before the 30-minute mark after Matteo Politano delivered a low cross into the path of Amir Rrahmani, whose first-time effort found the bottom left-hand corner.
Robert Lewandowski, however, scored from close range with seven minutes of normal time to play to seal Barca’s place in the next round.
“Very happy, Barcelona are in the top eight in Europe. It was a well-deserved qualification, a game dominated in attack and defence but also an excellent game by Napoli,” Barca head coach Xavi told Mediaset.
“Happy with the qualification and we’ll see how the draw goes. Proud to be back in the quarter-finals after years.”
The two sides drew 1-1 in the first leg in Naples last month, with Victor Osimhen cancelling out Lewandowski’s opener.
The 4-2 aggregate victory means Barca will be in the quarter-final draw taking place this Friday.
Xavi’s side sit third in La Liga, eight points behind rivals Real Madrid in first. The club’s former midfielder announced in January he would step down as head coach at the end of this season after a disappointing defence of their title.
When is the quarter-final draw?
The draws for the quarter-final, semi-final, and final of the 2023-24 Champions League will be held at 11am GMT on Friday.
Eight balls, each containing the name of a quarter-finalist, are placed in a bowl and shuffled. The initial team drawn will host their first match against the second team selected. This process is then repeated with the remaining balls until all quarter-final matches are determined.
For the semi-final draw, four balls, each labelled with slips of paper reading ‘winners of quarter-final one’ to ‘winners of quarter-final four,’ are placed into a bowl and mixed. The first and second balls drawn dictate the first semi-final pairing, with the initial ball representing the home team for the first leg. This process is then repeated with the remaining balls until all semi-final pairings are established.
A third draw is conducted to designate the ‘home’ side for the final.
(Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Read the full article here