After six months between the first and second legs, Barcelona took care of business against Napoli on Saturday by winning 3-1 (4-2 on aggregate) to clinch a 13th-straight Champions League quarterfinal appearance.
Lionel Messi led Barcelona, of course, shining even with a sea of defenders harassing him throughout the match. The GOAT had the goal of the game after driving through five defenders and clipping one right by Napoli keeper David Ospina. Messi has now scored against 38 different UCL opponents.
How in the WORLD did Messi score this goal??? pic.twitter.com/ayjM8lmPkw
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) August 8, 2020
The Argentine had another amazing goal called back by a questionable VAR call. Ospina delivered a huge save off a Luis Suarez rocket but the rebound bounced back to Frankie de Jong, who found Messi. Officials ruled that the ball grazed the forward’s arm hair just before the golazo.
@messi goal remove by var pic.twitter.com/itAhVv3zfK
— vini johny28 (@VJohny28) August 8, 2020
Napoli nearly stunned the home side at the start with forward Dries Mertens hitting the post within the first 90 seconds of the match. But following the miss, Barcelona controlled the match.
Clement Lenglet opened the scoring, knocking in a header off Ivan Rakitic’s corner.
"And the Nou Camp feels itself!"
Clément Lenglet heads home the opening goal and @FCBarcelona earns a bit of breathing room. pic.twitter.com/ZRXL7WaoqP— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 8, 2020
Penalty decisions then elongated the first half with both teams capitalizing from the spot. Suarez converted after Messi was fouled hard and passed up the spot kick, while Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne scored a penalty for the Italian side just before the half, but Napoli could not whip anything up in the second 45.
Barcelona’s defense will now have its biggest test of the season with a matchup against Bayern Munich, who've scored three or more goals in three straight UCL matches. Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski scored his 12th and 13th goals of the UCL season today, more than doubling the next highest remaining scorer.
Even without fans in the stadium, this quarterfinal matchup looks as exciting as ever.
