Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was on target for Barcelona yet again as they blew away Napoli to reach the Round of 16 in the Europa League.
Aubameyang – a January arrival from Arsenal as a free agent – netted a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory at Valencia on Sunday and swept in the fourth for Barca in a convincing win in Naples.
The outcome of the game was rarely in doubt after Jordi Alba gave Barca an eighth minute lead following a swift counter-attack.
Five minutes later, Frenkie de Jong – who enjoyed one of his best performances in a Blaugrana shirt – fired home a stunning second for Xavi Hernandez’s side, to give them a 3-1 aggregate advantage.
Napoli were given hope midway through the first half as Marc-Andre Ter Stegen felled Victor Osimhen in the area, allowing Lorenzo Insigne to convert from the penalty spot.
Yet Gerard Pique restored Barca’s two-goal advantage minutes before the break with a left-footed finish and Aubameyang grabbed a fourth for the visitors on the hour mark to put the result beyond doubt.
Substitute Matteo Politano scored a consolation goal with four minutes of regulation time remaining, but Barca had more than enough to hold on and progress.
Mirror Football takes a look at the five main talking points on an impressive evening for the Catalan giants.
New boys click
It was a busy transfer window for Barcelona with four players added to the first-team squad.
In fact, such was the influx of new arrivals in Xavi’s first transfer window that Dani Alves, one of those incomings, could not be registered for their European campaign due to UEFA’s rules.
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted a hat-trick on Sunday as Barca beat Valencia 4-1 and found the net again in this victory, with Adama Traore providing two assists and Ferran Torres – who scored in the first leg – also impressing.
Barca invested heavily in mid-season to back their new boss and those arrivals are already paying off.
No stopping Traore
Adama Traore’s arrival on a loan deal from Wolves has had an instant impact at Barca and he has already established himself as a regular starter in the new-look three-man attack.
Adama’s explosive pace has the potential to cause problems for any opponent and it was particularly devastating against Napoli, who could not find any solutions to his threat.
The Spain international provided the assist for Jordi Alba’s opener on the night and grabbed himself another direct goal assist as Aubameyang netted the side’s fourth to definitively finish the tie.
The winger is only on loan at the Camp Nou, but if he maintains this level of performance – do not be surprised if they attempt to make the deal from Wolves a permanent one.
Xavi masterclass
Xavi was only appointed at Barca in November with his only previous managerial experience at Qatari club Al Sadd.
Yet in just three months, Xavi’s ideals have been implemented successfully and improved results are now starting to follow.
This convincing triumph in Naples followed a similar La Liga victory at Valencia, and they are now in the top four in their league and through to the Round of 16 in the Europa League.
This was a victory built on Xavi’s philosophy of pressing opponents – a tactic which clearly exhausted Napoli, who had no answers to the problems it posed.
Barca were direct two – with their first two goals coming after sitting back and hitting Napoli with punchy counter-attacks.
While the Blaugrana and Xavi have been characterised for ‘tiki-taka’ football and metronomic passing – they have they have plenty of other arrows in their bow.
Pre-match show of unity
Both sets of players came together in a heartening show of unity before the match got underway alongside the banner ‘Stop War’.
The move comes on the same day that Russia declared war on Ukraine as tensions in Eastern Europe escalated in a development that may have wide-ranging ramifications.
It was a timely reminder that while football is not the most significant event in the world, its message and influence can prove poignant.
Napoli fall short in Europe again
For Napoli, this was another season in which they have come up short in European competition.
No Italian side has won a European trophy since Inter’s Champions League triumph in 2010, while Napoli’s sole success was in the UEFA Cup – the Europa League’s predecessor – way back in 1989, in Diego Maradona’s day.
Having only just about scrapped through the group stages this campaign they have fallen at the first hurdle in the knockout round for the third time in four attempts.
Napoli lost at the quarter final stage to Arsenal in 2019 and fell in the last four against Dnipro four years prior, but they have continued to underwhelm on the European stage.
