AThanks in part to a stroke of genius by its strong superstar Lionel Messi, FC Barcelona have made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and will now face FC Bayern. The Catalans with goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen defeated SSC Napoli 3-1 (3-1) in the second leg of the round of 16 on Saturday.
After the 1-1 draw in the first duel, it was enough for Barcelona to move into the top eight teams in the premier class in a row. At the final tournament of the Champions League in Lisbon there will be a clash with Munich on August 14th. In the most recent duel, Messi & Co. prevailed against Bayern in the semifinals in 2015 and then won their last Champions League title against Juventus Turin.
Clement Lenglet (10th minute), Messi after a great solo (23rd) and Luis Suarez (45th + 1) scored for coach Quique Setién’s team. The goal by Lorenzo Insigne (45 + 5) was too little for Naples, where Diego Demme was in the starting line-up.
In the first explosive scene, the former Leipzig was right in the center. Lenglet prevailed robustly against Demme after a corner and hit with his head – Napoli demanded a foul whistle in vain.
Then Messi played big: The 33-year-old Argentine dribbled through several opponents and curled the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0 when it fell. His supposed second goal didn’t count because of handball. Before the third Barça goal by Suarez, Messi was knocked off his feet by Kalidou Koulibaly in the penalty area.
The German national goalkeeper Ter Stegen showed a sovereign performance and was powerless only when the penalty kick from Insigne. In the final phase, Barcelona, which had to admit defeat in the Spanish championship Real Madrid after the Corona break, was under great pressure. Ripped off, the Catalans brought the lead over time – and, in contrast to the eliminated Madrid arch-rivals, they can hope for a premier class triumph.
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