FC Barcelona only needed 17 minutes to make the difference.
After conceding a draw in Naples (1-1), at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, the Blaugranas qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League by winning at home (3-1), at the Stadium Olympic.
This is their first quarter of C1 since 2020.
Xavi can thank his young talents.
Decimated by injuries, with the absences of Gavi, Pedri, De Jong, Balde and Ferran Torres, Barça was still able to count on three of its nuggets trained at the club: Pau Cubarsi, 17 years old, Fermin Lopez, 20 years old and Lamine Yamal , 16 years old.
The first, central defender, was imperial alongside Araujo by muzzling the Nigerian center forward Victor Osimhen, scorer in the first leg and systematically put offside or stopped by the young Spaniard.
The second, established in the middle, set the tone for his team with crazy activity and initiatives rewarded from the 15th minute of play. The Spanish international hopefuls, who made a name for himself by scoring against Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage showed composure to open the scoring with a flat right-footed cross from Raphinha.
He was imitated only two minutes later by Portuguese full-back João Cancelo (17th, 2-0), after a counter perfectly led by his friend Lamine Yamal, untenable on his right wing.
What a start to the match for Barça against Naples!
😱
2 goals in 2 minutes from Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo 🔴🔵#BarcaNapoli |
#UCL pic.twitter.com/J4Bqgadeyi
— CANAL+ Foot (@CanalplusFoot) March 12, 2024
However, the Neapolitans are not Italian champions for nothing, and they made the Barcelonans tremble.
Kosovar defender Amir Rrahmani first came to reduce the gap, before Victor Osimhen's teammates came to create danger in front of Marc-André Ter Stegen's cage.
However, they never managed to find the fault, despite a huge opportunity for Jesper Lindström.
Worse, Robert Lewandowski increased the score by being at the end of a good phase in the Neapolitan area (3-1).
Arsenal at the end of the suspense
Thanks to this victory, Barça joins Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, who already qualified last week for the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Arsenal will also be there.
Beaten in Porto in the first leg (1-0), the Gunners provided the essentials at the Emirates Stadium to reverse the trend.
The Belgian Leandro Trossard first opened the scoring at the end of the first period (41st), perfectly launched by captain Martin Odegaard.
More offensive than the Portuguese, the Londoners pushed for a long time to qualify in normal time, but Sergio Conceiçao's men held on.
Solid defensively, they snatched a stifling penalty shootout.
David Raya and Diego Costa then engaged in a long-distance duel, ultimately won by the Spaniard from Arsenal.
The goalkeeper deflected the attempts of Wendell and Galeno, giving victory and qualification to his team.
This Wednesday, the round of 16 of the Champions League will end with matches between Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan and between Borussia Dortmund and PSV Eindhoven.
Winners in the first leg, the Milanese leave with an advantage.
Everything remains to play for in the other confrontation.
The draw for the quarter-finals will then take place this Friday at 12 p.m.