BARCELONA (Reuters) – A fierce Lionel Messi led Barcelona to a 3-1 home win over Napoli on Saturday, with a 4-2 aggregate victory that took the club to the Champions League quarterfinals for the 13th season consecutive. , where he will face Bayern Munich.
The Catalans started badly, but took the lead in the 10th minute with a powerful header from Clement Lenglet following a corner kick, before Messi scored a superb second in the 23rd minute, leaving four saves behind.
Messi scored again shortly after, after an impressive team game, but the goal was canceled when the Argentine’s hand was determined in a VAR review, although Messi later obtained a penalty that Luis Suárez converted to reach the third of the Barça.
Napoli took it out when Lorenzo Insigne also scored a penalty late in the first half and played better after the break, but Barcelona survived to prepare for a clash with Bayern in the eighth stage of the tournament in Lisbon next Friday.
“We got the result we wanted. We spent two weeks getting ready for the game, knowing how difficult it would be, and that’s how it ended because at times they made it difficult for us,” said Suarez.
“They took us by surprise at first, but we scored first. If they had done that, it would have caused uncertainty, but we handled the game well.”
(Reporting by Richard Martin)
