The good, the bad and the beautiful as Barcelona blow Napoli away
The good, the bad and the beautiful as Barcelona blow Napoli away
Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (4-2 aggregate) - Champions League
For the first time since 2020, Barcelona have won a knockout tie in the Champions League. Just like back then, they beat Napoli 3-1 at home after a 1-1 draw in Italy.
Unlike 2020, however, there was no Leo Messi on hand to lift Barcelona. No Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets or Jordi Alba either. A whole cadre of all-time greats elsewhere (all in Miami, amusingly enough) while Barcelona had to make do with an injury-hit side low on confidence.
And they won!
Years of failure, some of it genuinely inexplicable such as losing 8-2 to Bayern Munich or the two consecutive group stage exits, have finally been overcome.
All thanks to a couple of kids.
The Good: Xavi’s killer subs
Not just a couple of kids, though. The veterans still had their say!
In the second-half, with the game drifting Napoli’s way, Xavi made a pair of substitutions. It wasn’t like Barça were being dominated or anything, but they didn’t have the control they did at the start (more on that later) and Napoli were finding it easier and easier to create half-chances.
So Xavi withdrew the tiring Fermin Lopez and Andreas Christensen, replacing them with club captain Sergi Roberto and Oriol Romeu, respectively.
Romeu was just a like-for-like change for Christensen in defensive midfield; the Dane has rarely completed the full 90 minutes for Barcelona, especially since moving to midfield, so it was no surprise to see him removed.
Fermin, however, had been playing well but was tiring. His pressing and forward runs had been key to Barcelona dominating the opening half hour, and of course he opened the scoring with a superbly slotted finish from the edge of the box (his third chance of the game after his blisteringly quick start).
He needed replacing, however. But a like-for-like change in attacking midfield would have seen João Felix come on, or perhaps Vitor Roque enter to play wide while Raphinha moved centrally. And that could have worked, sure, however Xavi went for Roberto and completely changed the game.
Roberto is a Barcelona veteran, debuting for the club in the Champions League semi-finals all the way back in 2011. He’s played a variety of roles over the years, but never attacking midfielder. So when he came on it was no surprise that he took up station in a deeper role, and the most advanced midfielder became Ilkay Gundogan.
This change was massive. Now free to play his best position, Gundogan took control of proceedings as he did so many times for Manchester City.
“It is one of my best moments as Barça coach. Now I have the hope of going to the semifinals of the Champions League.” — Xavi
Napoli just could not keep track of the German as he moved between the lines. He was routinely the focal point all Barça attacks flowed through and the team benefitted immensely from this.
Instead of the game drifting towards the Italian side, suddenly Barcelona were back in complete command. They gave up a couple more chances, but by and large the rest of the game belonged to them. Gundogan was a killer between the lines, while deeper in midfield Roberto was a solid energetic presence to close down any Napoli attacks.
Unsurprising, then, that Barcelona’s third goal came from those two combining. Roberto driving in from the left, finding Gundogan then instantly pivoting to run in behind the Napoli defence. Gundogan held the ball, demonstrating his legendary pausa, before releasing at the perfect moment to draw the defence into an unsuccessful attempt to get the ball, allowing Roberto to move clean through on goal.
Barcelona’s captain declined to shoot, instead slipping the ball sideways and allowing Robert Lewandowski to tap home for Barcelona’s third goal on the night and fourth on aggregate. A two-goal lead for the first time with 10 minutes left to play, Barcelona knew they had won it. All thanks to Xavi’s killer subs.
“The play went perfectly. I saw him alone at the penalty spot when Gündogan gave me the pass.” — Sergi Roberto
The Bad: Midfield misery
Well, one of Xavi’s subs anyway. While Roberto had been tremendous, Romeu continued the downward trend of the Barcelona midfield by being terrible. In fact despite playing just 31 minutes Romeu may have been Barça’s worst midfielder.
But let’s back it up: to be clear Barcelona’s midfield alignment started out superbly. With Fermin Lopez pushed high to lead the press, Barcelona spent the first half-hour on the front foot.
The problem was, of course, that if they weren’t pressing high then there was a defensive vulnerability to the midfield. Andreas Christensen did not play well, he often has in that “Busquets role” - but last night he struggled.
And while Gundogan changed the game in the last half-hour, prior to that he had not been anywhere near as effective. In fact Napoli’s goal came because Gundogan did not close Amir Rrahmani quickly enough. And he definitely saw him, you can even see him turn his lead (or “scan” if you want to get all technical) and see the Kosovan making his run into the box, moving onto Politano’s cutback, and just doesn’t react with enough gusto in the same way Frenkie de Jong or Gavi would have done. And of course Christensen didn’t cover for him either because he wasn’t on it either.
After that goal, which brought Napoli back just one goal down, Barcelona’s midfield struggled to get a grip on the game. Napoli managed to push up the field and get a measure of control for themselves. Barcelona were stifled.
Then when Romeu and Roberto came on, Romeu continued the woeful trend of giving the ball away. He routinely misplaced passes and turned it over in dangerous positions, causing Xavi much consternation on the sideline as his struggles allowed Napoli to create chances.
The Beautiful: Pau Cubarsi (and Lamine Yamal)
Napoli never took any of those chances, however. Not after Rrahmani’s absurdly composed finish anyway. Nor did they really have that many great chances beyond one glorious chance for Jesper Lindstrom that the Dane headed wide, and somehow Mathias Olivera hit the post late in the game after Barcelona were 3-1 up.
But Victor Osimhen was held firmly in check, and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia was locked down and reduced to taking potshots from range.
While Jules Kounde covered Kvaratskhelia superbly, and while Araujo was an all-around defensive genius in the way that is typical of the Uruguayan, the real star of Barcelona’s defensive dominance was Pau Cubarsi.
17 year-old Pau Cubarsi.
Champions League debutant Pau Cubarsi.
Man of the Match, Pau Cubarsi.
Amusing, that. “Man” of the match. He’s a child! Not that you could tell watching him play from the sidelines. Cubarsi absolutely dominated the world-class Osimhen from start to finish.
In the first-leg Iñigo Martinez looked like a dog trying to fight a hurricane in his handling of the exhausted and out-of-form Osimhen. And of course his error allowed the Nigerian to equalise for Napoli in that game. Since then Osimhen has scored 4 goals including a hat-trick against Sassuolo. He was going to be a terrifying prospect.
Last night Pau Cubarsi, a player 15 years younger than Iñigo Martinez, handled Osimhen with incredible ease. This was relentless dominance from the young Catalan, partly fueled by Barcelona’s brilliant offside trap catching the Nigerian so many times. But Cubarsi matched him in the duels too!
“Their attackers were caught offside several times because we were well positioned.” — Ronald Araujo
The only time Osimhen looked to have gained any sort of advantage was after some incidental contact, a clash of legs as Cubarsi was chasing him back, had the Nigerian flopping to the turf like a carp. VAR looked at it and decided there was no need for a penalty, possibly because the contact was minimal, Araujo was blocking Osimhen’s path anyway and his reaction to the touch was absurdly over the top, or possibly because Osimhen was offside when the ball was played through to him.
Either way it was the only time he had anything resembling the upper-hand over Cubarsi aka CuBaresi. The teenager did not look overawed by the prospect of handling one of the very best strikers in the world.
“Xavi gave me the details to try to stop Osimhen, and the fans in the stands helped us a lot. They were the 12th player tonight. We are all very happy to reach the quarterfinals.” — Pau Cubarsi
This child was absurdly nerveless both in and out of possession. The quality of his passing was frankly obscene. Repeatedly Cubarsi would pass right through the teeth of the Napoli press, rending it ansunder and finding team-mates between the lines.
The finest ball-playing centre-backs in the world would have been proud of the passes Cubarsi was playing, nevermind a 17 year-old making his Champions League debut as the youngest-ever defender to start in the knockout rounds. “Pau Cubarsí is the best ball playing defender we have. It’s spectacular to watch him play,” were Xavi’s comments about Cubarsi after the 4-0 win over Getafe and the teenager repeatedly makes his coach look more and more correct. His display was preposterously good.
Of course, he wasn’t alone. His fellow 2007-baby Lamine Yamal also started the game. The pair both played as 16 year-olds against Real Betis and while Cubarsi has since turned 17, Lamine Yamal is still just 16, and still tormenting opponents.
Raphinha is fit now, and given his display last night as a left-winger, clearly made of the “right stuff” to play big games like that one. Yet there is no doubt after watching the game against Napoli that Lamine Yamal must be rested and preserved for Barcelona’s big clashes this season because goodness gracious, what a player!
Lamine Yamal torched Napoli for the vast majority of the game. In that opening 30 minutes he was damn-near unstoppable, cooking Mario Rui with relentless abandon. Every time he got the ball you could feel the buzz rippling around the Montjuic. This was his stage, he belonged here. He was a literal child, but he belonged here.
The stat-sheet won’t show any goals or assists for Lamine Yamal, but he could have had multiple of both. He came desperately close to scoring with a few rasping shots where he cut in off the right-flank onto his wand of a left-foot and let fly. And as for assists? He had 2 key passes but honestly the amount of times he sliced the Napoli defence apart to find a team-mate was ridiculous.
Then there was Barcelona’s second goal.
Oh my, what a goal.
Ronald Araujo acrobatically hooked the ball clear to the edge of the box where Lamine Yamal and Stanislav Lobotka were both moving towards it. Rather than contest a 50/50, Lamine Yamal showed his outrageous skill by flicking the ball over Lobotka’s head with his first touch.
97 Passes must reiterate: Lamine Yamal flicked the ball over Stanislav Lobotka’s head with his first touch. This was illegal skill. The kind of thing they should clip up into a gif that just runs over and over again across social media.
To make it even more impressive, the flick went straight into the space behind Lobotka’s press and set Lamine Yamal running free. The teenager drove through midfield, leading the counter for Barcelona before finding Raphinha with a perfectly weighted pass.
The Brazilian tucked in on his right and shot, hitting the post. Luckily João Cancelo appeared to ensure that Lamine Yamal’s genius wasn’t lost to the ether, slotting home the rebound to give the Blaugrana the two goal lead that allowed them to absorb Napoli’s riposte without ever losing their control on the tie.
“It was one of the best days of my life. We are back in the quarterfinals after four years. We are all very happy with the work done in the match.” — Pau Cubarsi
16 year-old Lamine Yamal.
17 year-old Pau Cubarsi.
(20 year-old Fermin Lopez)
La Masia leading Barcelona back to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2020, when these three were 12 and 13 (and 16) respectively.
After this weekend’s win, 97 Passes opined: “The Who once said: the kids are alright, but these kids are better than that, they’re downright brilliant!” But even that is now looking like an understatement. Brilliant? These kids are so good they recall another Who song. They are generational.