Lionel Messi on fire led Barcelona to a 3-1 home win over Napoli on Saturday. The overall victory brought the club to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the 13th time in a row, where it played against Bayern Munich.
The Catalans got off to a shaky start but took the lead in the 10th minute with a powerful header from a corner from Clement Lenglet before Messi scored an outstanding second on the 23rd and dropped four defenders to roll the ball into the bottom corner .
Messi got the ball back in the net shortly after an excellent team move but the goal was harshly ruled out by the Argentine after a VAR check for handball, although Messi later won a penalty which Luis Suarez converted for Barca’s third.
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Napoli got one back when Lorenzo Insigne converted a penalty at the end of the first half and were the better side after the break, but Barca survived to have a delicious duel with Bayern in the Final Eight tournament in Lisbon next Friday.
“We achieved the desired result. We spent two weeks preparing for the game because we knew how difficult it was going to be and it turned out that they made it difficult for us at certain moments, ”said Suarez.
“We were surprised at the start, but scored first. If they had scored it would have created uncertainty, but we did well. “
Messi had sounded the alarm after Barcelona’s rusty performance in the 1-1 draw in the first leg of the last 16 in February, saying they had no chance of winning the European grand prize, which has escaped them since 2015, unless they had each other improved.
He would have been concerned about Barca’s stuttering start, with Napoli gushing across the home team and Dries Mertens hitting the crossbar in the second minute.
But Napoli’s easy defense allowed Lenglet to score with a free header that annoyed Barca, while Messi effectively killed the tie with his goal and won the penalty kick by chasing Kalidou Koulibaly in the area and receiving a foul.
The fact that Napoli finished the game so well that Hirving Lozano hit the post and Arkadiusz Milik’s header was offside added to the feeling that Barca will struggle to beat Bayern, who beat Chelsea 7-1 overall .
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