What could have been a very awkward night for Barcelona ultimately became a stroll on the Camp Nou pitch, as it progressed to the last eight of the Champions League with a 3-1 win (4-2 on aggregate) over Napoli. In the quarterfinals in Portugal next week, Barcelona will face Bayern Munich, which, 3-0 up after the first leg, was never going to have a pressure-packed night and wound up beating Chelsea, 4-1, to cement a 7-1 aggregate thrashing.
Napoli had actually begun quite brightly, smartly enough to raise all the familiar doubts about Barcelona’s midfield, but abysmal defending (and the benefit of an uncalled push-off) during a 10th-minute corner kick allowed Clement Lenglet to give Barcelona the lead.