Champions League: Victor Osimhen Fails To Save Napoli Against FC Barcelona

It was a difficult night for Napoli at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys as Super Eagles of Nigeria forward, Victor Osimhen, failed to save the Italian champions at the hands of FC Barcelona.

Napoli traveled to Barcelona for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 with the hope that Victor Osimhen would help them overcome FC Barcelona.

Unfortunately for the 25-year-old striker who has been in superb goalscoring form since he returned to the club from the 2023 AFCON, he couldn’t break Barcelona’s defense.

Coach Xavi Hernandez who wasn’t happy that Osimhen used half a chance to score the equalizer against Barcelona in the first leg of the tie which ended 1-1, came up with a perfect plan to keep the highly sought-after striker silent in the second leg.

Most of the balls that got to Osimhen during the game met the Nigeria international offside as he failed to produce any serious threat in the eighteen-yard box.

While Osimhen was struggling off-front, Napoli’s defenders were finding it difficult to cope with FC Barcelona’s attacks.

Napoli’s defense suffered the most in the first 20 minutes of the encounter as Fermín López scored the opener in the 15th minute and João Cancelo scored the second two minutes later.

Fortunately for the visitors, they got a goal back in the 30th minute courtesy of Amir Rrahmani’s strike.

While Napoli were struggling to get a goal back in the second half, Robert Lewandowski who was quiet in most parts of the game scored and nailed Napoli’s coffin in the 83rd minute.

Hence, FC Barcelona knocked Napoli out of the UEFA Champions League with a 4-2 aggregate win as the second leg ended 3-1.

Meanwhile, Premier League club, Arsenal, joined FC Barcelona in the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Champions League by beating Porto 1-0 in the second leg at the Emirates Stadium after losing 1-0 in the first leg.

Hence, the tie was settled via a penalty shootout which Arsenal won and ended the tie 4-2 on penalties.