In the second leg of the Europa League round of 32 fixture, Barca faced Napoli away from home, but that didn’t hold the Blaugrana back from dismantling vs the Italian side 4-2 (5-3 aggregate score). A great display from Xavi’s men especially against Napoli, who are third in the Serie A. Once people used to think it will take years for Barca to be back stronger, but Xavi has already instilled his style into the squad very well. Obviously, some flaws remain, but this is looking good. Barca got to face a very difficult opponent early in the Europa League but still managed to overcome the difficulty, and at this rate, Barca have a fair chance of winning the trophy, but nothing is set in stone, and next round could become a shocking surprise, but as of right now, we should all be happy with this amazing result, and be excited for what’s to come next.
Defense
GK: Ter Stegen – 4/10 Played a good ball in the build up to Barca’s second goal but then gifted a penalty to Napoli for a bad challenge on Osimhen. Shocker.
RB: Dest – 8/10 A great performance from the American, as he did well in defence, and linked up with Traore pretty well on the right side. A huge step up from Dest, especially defensively.
CB: Araujo – 7/10 Could’ve been better but he did his job decently in keeping Osimhen quiet.
CB: Pique – 8/10 What a finish! Pique has been doing good under Xavi, and his leadership skills seem to stand out as well as his ball playing. A good performance from Pique.
LB: Alba – 9/10 Wow, Jordi Alba put a great performance for the Blaugrana as he calmly finished the chance to make it 1-0, as well as setting up Pique to make it 3-1. His defensive play was great as well. Feels good to see Alba play this well.
Midfield
CM: Frenkie De Jong – 9/10 What a hit! Seriously, what a goal that was. An absolutely delicious goal Frenkie scored. Xavi has put Frenkie back on his feet. He created 3 chances and covered the pitch pretty well.
CDM: Busquets – 7.5/10 Busquets got space and time, and he hurt Napoli. Put up a good performance as he controlled and distributed possession nicely.
CM: Pedri – 7.5/10 Great workrate and movement from Pedri, who played with great composure.
Attack
RW: Adama Traore – 8.5/10 Providing 2 assists and completing 3 dribbles, Traore was a constant threat vs Napoli on the right flank of Barca. Good performance.
ST: Aubameyang – 8/10 Scored a great goal in the second half, as his movement and workrate was simply class. A great signing for Barca, the clinical touch Barca needed.
LW: Ferran Torres – 7/10 Received an assist for setting up Frenkie’s goal. His workrate was great but finishing should improve. Not a bad performance from Ferran, with time he will return and become better.
Substitutes
- Gavi – 6/10 Picked up a yellow card, which will see him miss the next Europa League match but seemed to be all right in possession.
- Nico – 6/10 Looked involved and was decent but could be more careful with the ball.
- Luuk De Jong – 6/10 Didn’t do too much to be effective
- Dembele – 6/10 Took 1 shot but couldn’t do much other than that.
- Puig – 6.5/10 Entered during the closing minutes of the match and did his part well.
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