Barcelona returns to the Diego Armando Maradona stadium. Barça returns to Naples. Until recently, the two great European Pelusa teams had never met in official competition but this will be the third time they meet in Europe. The duel pits the current champions of the League and Serie A against each other. The precedents smile on the Barcelona fans, who have never lost against the Partenopeans.
Naples brings back good memories for Barça since it is precisely the last tie that the Blaugrana won in the Champions League in 2020. It was in this same round of 16 and with the second leg also at home. There are differences, because then they still scored for Barcelona players Messi, Luis Suárez and Griezmann. Then came Bayern's 2-8, the K.O. against PSG and Mbappé, who won 1-4 at the Camp Nou, and the two campaigns without reaching the round of 16 of the best continental competition.
It has rained a lot, there has been a global pandemic and a confinement and even a change of president in the Barcelona box. Even so, Xavi already knows what it's like to play in Naples. Well, he had to do it in the Europa League playoff in his first season on the Camp Nou bench, bounced from the Champions League. After the 1-1 in the first leg, the tie was decided in Italy where Barça had a great game (2-4). Alba, De Jong Aubameyang and Piqué scored.
In just two years, Barça has changed a lot. Not so much Naples, although since then they have had three coaches: Spalletti, Rudi Garcia and Walter Mazzarri, in charge since November.
The Partenopeans maintain the block that led them to win their third scudetto, the first without Maradona. They only lost Kim Min-Jae, transferred to Bayern, and Hirving Lozano, who returned to PSV. In attack, Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia stand out, with 8 and 5 goals, respectively.
But the truth is that the Neapolitan team significantly lowers its performance against important rivals. This course has not yet won any greats. In the match they failed against Milan (2-2) and have been defeated by Juventus, Inter and Lazio, in addition to Real Madrid in the two group stage matches (2-3 and 4-2).
