Victor Osimhen saved the best for the end of his working day: a quarter of an hour before the end of the game, Napoli’s center forward scored the goal that leaves the Italians all options open before the second leg in Barcelona. The Nigerian let his opponent Inigo Martinez bounce off him with a lot of physical effort and pushed the ball into the net to make it 1-1.
Osimhen, who played for Napoli for the first time since the Africa Cup of Nations, was substituted shortly afterwards. The 25-year-old’s efforts, who were said to lack training after the continental tournament, paid off.
The goal heralded a strong final phase for the Neapolitans. But they were unable to score another goal. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa put a header just past Marc-André ter Stegen’s goal in the 85th minute.
When new coach Francesco Calzona took over, a victory would have been a somewhat rich reward for the home team, which had long held back in the Stadio Armando Maradona. On the other hand, Barcelona were also close to a second goal. Ilkay Gündogan shot the ball just past the post in the last action of the game.
Lewandowski breaks the goal spell
After almost an hour, Robert Lewandowski rewarded the guests, who had dominated the game for a long time, for their offensive efforts. The Pole was played by Pedri in the penalty area, created space and scored between the legs of Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo and into the near corner. Lewandowski had already been successful for the Catalans in the last three championship games.
Thanks to the individual actions of the two star strikers, a long disappointing game came to an attractive end. Previously, both Napoli and Barcelona had had difficulty concealing the fact that they were currently not among the “crème de la crème” in their national leagues. Everything remains open before the second leg in Barcelona on March 12th.