CAN BARCELONA FINISH THE JOB? Good evening and welcome to our coverage of this evening's Europa League play-off second leg between Napoli and Barcelona at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. While the Partenopei went ahead in the first leg through Piotr Zielinski, Barca levelled via a second-half penalty from Ferran Torres and ended up looking much the stronger side. They will need to maintain that level of performance if they want to progress to the last 16.
Europa League / Knockout Round Play-offs
Stadio Diego Armando Maradona / 24.02.2022
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- L. Insigne(24' PEN)
- M. Politano(88')
- J. Alba(10')
- F. de Jong(14')
- G. Piqué(45')
- P. Aubameyang(60')
Live
Live Updates
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Updated 24/02/2022 at 22:09 GMT
45'
GOAL!
Torres picks out Alba on the overlap and he pings a low cross to Gerard Pique on the edge of the area. Pique takes a touch, then thrashes a shot into the far corner. That could be a game changer.
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Goal
G. Piqué
FC Barcelona
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41'
GOOD DEFENDING
Osimhen latches onto a cross five yards out, but Ronald Araujo pressures him into a poor first touch and shepherds the ball out for a goal kick.
39'
NAPOLI LEFT FRUSTRATED
... after Osimhen goes on a galloping solo run and wins a corner, only for the linesman to signal for a goal kick.
34'
TORRES SQUANDERS ANOTHER CHANCE
... shooting straight at Meret after some good work from Aubameyang. He needs to be much, much more clinical.
31'
SEESAWING MOMENTUM
Torres almost goes through one-on-one but is dispossessed by Kalidou Koulibaly. Napoli go up the other end and Insigne takes a shot from distance which whistles wide.
27'
BIG MISS!
After an attempt from Ferran Torres is deflected wide for a corner, De Jong finds Aubameyang unmarked at the back post. He heads wide when he should have made it 3-1. Will Barcelona live to regret it?
25'
END-TO-END STUFF
After two half-chances for Aubameyang, Osimhen almost gets in behind once again only to be let down by his first touch.
23'
GOAL!
Insigne makes no mistake, sticking it low to Ter Stegen's right. We've got a game on our hands.
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Penalty
L. Insigne
Napoli
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21'
PENALTY!
Referee Sergei Karasev duly points to the spot. Lorenzo Insigne steps up to take it.
20'
PENALTY SHOUT!
Osimhen sprints onto a long ball from the back and Marc-Andre ter Stegen rushes off his line, catching him just inside the area. VAR will check this...
16'
MORE CHANCES!
Sergino Dest almost adds a third for Barca, swishing a shot just wide from distance. Aubameyang follows up by dropping a half-volley just over the crossbar. Napoli have been caught cold here. The home fans are furious, the stands echoing with angry whistles.
13'
GOAL!
What was that we said about this being a tight game? Barcelona go 2-0 up through Frenkie de Jong, who curls one into the top corner from distance.
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Goal
F. de Jong
FC Barcelona
9'
GOAL!
We've got an early goal here and it's gone the way of the visitors. After a spell of pressure from Napoli, Barcelona counter-attack from a corner and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang flicks the ball forward to Adama Traore. He shrugs off Amir Rrahmani and picks out Jordi Alba to his right, with the Barca left-back lashing one past Alex Meret.
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Goal
J. Alba
FC Barcelona
5'
CAGEY START
Napoli have seen most of the ball so far, but neither side has been able to carve out a meaningful chance.
1st Half
20:00
WE'RE UNDERWAY
Will Napoli overturn Barcelona at home? Or will the visitors assert their dominance? Let's find out.
19:55
FIVE MINUTES TO GO UNTIL KICK OFF
... and the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is already bouncing. It still feels weird that this is a Europa League tie as opposed to Champions League but, even so, it should be decent entertainment.
The two sides head out early for the pre-match protest. They are met with applause from all four sides of the ground.
19:45
INSIDE THE BARCA DRESSING ROOM
... with the players set to head out into the tunnel imminently.
19:35
PRE-MATCH PROTEST
... with both sides set to endorse a message calling for an end to the war in Ukraine.
19:25
BARCELONA UNBEATEN IN FIVE
While they are still very much a team in transition under Xavi, Barca have shown signs of improvement in recent weeks. Their 4-1 win against Valencia at the weekend took their unbeaten run to five matches in all competitions, so they will be feeling quietly confident this evening.
Asked about their intended approach in his pre-match press conference, Xavi said: "We will try to dominate the match and keep on the ball, which will be difficult because Napoli will be harder at home. It'll be a very high-intensity match with a fast pace.
"I think it will be a footballing war until we get hold of the ball. We will go out and try to win it. We'll be brave, try to keep the ball, press high, we know the fans can be intense as well. We have to go out and play here, play our style, be strong in attack and keep working the way we've been doing recently with the team."
19:15
STALEMATE SPECIALISTS?
Including their game against Barcelona at Camp Nou, Napoli's last three fixtures have ended 1-1. Having ceded leads against Inter Milan and Barca, they squandered the chance to go second in Serie A on Monday evening when they needed a late equaliser from Victor Osimhen to salvage a point away at Cagliari.
As such, expect another tight match this evening. Napoli did visibly tire as the first leg went on, however, so there are no guarantees for them if they try to drag the game to extra time and penalties.
19:05
CONFIRMED TEAMS - NAPOLI: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Mario Rui, Fabian, Demme, Elmas, Zielinski, Insigne, Osimhen. /// BARCELONA: Ter Stegen, Dest, Pique, Araujo, Busquets, Traore, Pedri, Alba, Torres, De Jong, Aubameyang.