Barcelona hosted Napoli at the Camp Nou tonight, but Xavi Hernandez’s men struggled to get a win in their first Europa League game since 2003-04.
The Spanish side has been playing UEFA Champions League football over the past years and they have done really well.
The Barcelona fans saw the unexpected this season, as the club was knocked out of the UEFA champions league tournament. The last time Barcelona played in the Europa League, was in 2003-04.
Coming back to the tournament, the expectations from the Barcelona fans is to win the Europa League trophy because Barcelona are regarded as the strongest team in the tournament.
Napoli traveled to Spain tonight and they showed pure class against Barcelona. Napoli couldn’t get a win in Spain, but they gave everything. The game ended in a 1-1 draw (full-time).
The Barcelona manager made two expensive mistakes that needed to be correct in the upcoming games. Watching the last three matches, including the today’s game, you could notice that Barcelona are playing good football.
Ferran Torres Lacking Of Goal Scoring Skill
We have seen this in the past few games, but the manager decided to sit on it. Ferran Torres played as a false nine in the last two matches while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Luuk De Jong started the game from the bench.
The Spanish manager has decided to start Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang against Napoli tonight and Ferran Torres played as a full-time winger tonight.
He operated from the left hand flank while Adama Traore started from the right hand flank. Adama Traore’s favorite job is to create chances for his teammates.
He doesn’t score a lot of goals and he has shown it at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Ferran Torres has a golden opportunity to give Barcelona the lead, but he missed the goal.
Immediately after missing the goal, Barcelona got punished by Napoli and that’s a huge example of taking your chances. Barcelona didn’t take their chances in the first half.
Ferran Torres is a lovely player and a promising talent for both club and country, but he has to work very hard in front of the goal. Eden Hazard has got a similar situation when he was playing at Chelsea, but he became perfect.
No Gavi And Sergio Busquets In The Midfield
Barcelona has done well with Gavi and Busquets in the midfield and they did really well in the last matches. Xavi Hernandez started both players from the bench and it affected the team in some ways.
Gavi is very creative and he is also good in front of the goal. He is very dangerous in attack and he has shown it this season. Xavi Hernandez decided to involve both players in the second half, after the penalty from the spot kick.
Sergio Busquets calmed the pressure in the midfield and Barcelona took control of the game until the final whistle.
Barcelona has given themselves an extra job in the second leg. The Spanish side have to secure a victory in Italy or they will be a problem.
Let’s see what happens in the second leg.
