A must win match for Barcelona to stay alive in the Europa League
Barcelona is facing a must win affair in their Europa League match against Napoli. The Catalans drew the first leg 1-1 at the Camp Nou thanks to a penalty converted by Ferran Torres.
If they want to keep their European adventure alive, the side managed by Xavi Hernandez need to win in Italy.
The result at home was disappointing but they took solace from the performance. They created a number of chances but failed to convert. After the game, Xavi told his team if they play like they did that day, then they would win 90 percent of the time.
Unlike the first leg, Barcelona will have Ronald Araujo. The Uruguayan was unavailable after picking up an injury against Espanyol but recovered in time to play in the Valencia win over the weekend.
As expected, neither Memphis Depay nor Clement Lenglet recovered in time.
🚨 SQUAD LIST 🚨#NapoliBarça pic.twitter.com/irJ8e04lUz
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 23, 2022
There could be a few changes compared to the first leg. Ferran Torres, who scored the penalty but missed a handful of chances that could have given Barcelona the edge, could be rested. The former Manchester City forward has played in every game since coming back from injury.
With Araujo back, the defense is likely to be Sergiño Dest at right-back, a center-back pairing of Araujo and Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba at left-back.
Expect a midfield of Pedri, Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong.
The questions then lie in the attack.
If Torres is rested, then Gavi could play as a false winger on the left. With his hat-trick in the last game, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will have the task of leading the line. That leaves one spot for either Adama Traore or Ousmane Dembele.
Traore has gotten off to a quick start and has slotted in straight into the team without missing a beat. However, he was pretty well contained by Napoli in the first leg. Dembele, who came on as a sub, was explosive and was one of the reasons they could have gotten a winner.
The Frenchman started against Valencia and while not flashy, he had an assist as well as a pre-assist so he could be given a second straight start.
It doesn’t seem like Xavi wants to start both of them as he wants to have one of them available as a substitute if Barcelona are chasing the game or need speed to exploit on the counter.
In any case, expect a strong lineup as even though it’s not the Champions League, Barcelona is expected to, at least, try to win whatever competition they are in.
"“It would be a big disappointment to be eliminated,” Xavi said. “We are going to be optimistic.“We competed very well in the first leg and now we have to play here.“If we are at the level of the Barcelona that we are seeing lately, we have a good chance.“I predict a very tough game.”Source: Marca"
Barcelona’s recent away record in European competitions is abysmal. The defeats to Liverpool at Anfield and the ones this season to Benfica and Bayern Munich are but just a couple of examples.
They are going to need to get over that hump if they want to progress further into the competition. The last time they played in Italy, they lost 3-0 to Roma to crash out of the Champions League.
With the additions they made in January and the improvements since Xavi took over, they’re hoping for a different result this time around.