FC Barcelona vs SSC Napoli
Competition/Round: 2023-24 UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 2nd Leg
First Leg Result: Napoli 1-1 Barcelona
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi, Alejandro Balde, Ferran Torres (out), Marcos Alonso (doubt)
Napoli Outs & Doubts: None
Date/Time: Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 4pm ET, 1pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Wednesday)
Venue: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Montjuïc, Barcelona, Catalonia
Referee: Danny Makkelie (NED)
VAR: Rob Dieperink (NED)
How to watch on TV: TUDN (USA), TNT Sports 2 (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), SONY TEN 1 (India), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: Paramount+ (USA), Discovery+ (UK), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a hard-fought, valuable win at home over Mallorca in La Liga on Friday, Barcelona are back in action for the biggest and most important game at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium this season as the Catalans welcome Napoli for the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie.
Barça come into this one looking to book a spot in the quarter-finals of Europe’s top competition for the first time in four years, and the last time they did it was against Napoli at home after a 1-1 draw in Italy in the first leg. If history is going to repeat itself, Barça need to overcome a brutal set of circumstances in order to pull off a victory and move on to the Last Eight.
The biggest hurdle are the absences: Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi and Alejandro Balde are four crucial pieces of Xavi Hernández’s system, and any Barça fan would fear for the worst if they knew ahead of time that those four would be missing with the team’s European fate on the line.
The other obstacle is Napoli’s improved form: new manager Francesco Calzona has had a positive impact on his side, who is unbeaten since he took over and had an impressive win over Juventus last week. They don’t look like world-beaters by any stretch of the imagination, but the team’s morale has improved and their best players are much more confident.
They will come to the Catalan capital knowing they are facing a vulnerable Barça side missing several key pieces and with a terrible recent record of embarrassing European exits, and an early goal for the visitors would put an immense amount of pressure on the Blaugrana to avoid another painful continental night.
Barça would be considered underdogs against virtually all of the possible opponents in the quarter-finals if they were to advance, but they at least need to put their name in the hat for the draw and hope that they figure out how to be a stronger unit until the first leg of the next round.
Considering who’s missing and just how important it is for the club as a whole to reach the next stage, earn some much-needed prize money and keep the hopes of a trophy alive this season, it really does not matter how well Barça play or how beautifully intricate their passing is. They just have to win.
And with a much-improved defensive unit in recent weeks thanks to the return of Marc-André ter Stegen and Andreas Christensen’s work as a defensive midfielder, the chances of a classic 1-0 escape job that we saw so many times last season is not that unrealistic anymore.
Seriously, three of the best four midfielders and the only true left-back in the squad are missing. You just have to hope for a clean sheet, a moment of Lamine Yamal magic, a decisive Robert Lewandowski intervention and for Ilkay Gündogan to lead his team as he did so many times for Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City in big stages. The crowd at Montjuïc hasn’t been very good all season, but they showed up in big games (El Clásico, Atlético Madrid, FC Porto) and need to be at their best on Tuesday night.
It really does not matter how Barça do it. They just have to do it.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Iñigo, Cancelo; Christensen, Gündogan; Yamal, Raphinha, Félix; Lewandowski
Napoli (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Jesus, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka, Traoré; Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
PREDICTION
It’s been almost a decade since Barcelona’s adventures in Europe haven’t ended in profound disappointment and often embarrassment. The key players missing and Napoli’s improved form indicate this could very well be yet another sad European night, but I’ll choose to believe that maybe this time it’ll be different: 2-1 Barça.