Dries Mertens matched the all-time Napoli goal-scoring record, but Antoine Griezmann tapped in the Barcelona equaliser and Arturo Vidal saw red in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16.
Antoine Griezmann's second Champions League goal for Barcelona helped the LaLiga giants secure a 1-1 draw against Napoli in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Quique Setien's side were insipid in the first half and deservedly went behind to Dries Mertens' superb strike after 30 minutes at the Stadio San Paolo.
Napoli lost Mertens to injury early in the second half and their advantage was erased before the hour mark when Griezmann, who had previously cut an isolated figure in attack, thundered home after a flowing move.
The hosts squandered two golden opportunities to restore their advantage soon after, with Barca ultimately holding on despite Arturo Vidal's late dismissal to take a precious away goal back to Camp Nou in three weeks' time.
Match Events
9' Messi fires his shot into the sky
OVER! Messi weaves his way to the edge of the box and combines with De Jong. However, under pressure, the Argentine can only lift his left-footed strike over the bar.
30' GOAL! Napoli 1-0 Barcelona (Mertens)
The home side take the lead through an incisive break and super finish from Mertens.
Zielinski robs Firpo of possession and charges forward into the right inside channel. He cuts a low ball back towards the edge of the box for the Belgian. Mertens takes one touch before curling his effort away from Ter Stegen into the top-right corner.
49' Yellow Card! Busquets booked and will miss 2nd leg
Busquets unleashes a reckless challenge on Mertens and receives a yellow card for the stamp. Mertens cannot play on and is later subbed off.
57' GOAL! Napoli 1-1 Barcelona (Griezmann)
Barcelona are back in the game as Griezmann converts from close range.
Busquets releases the run of Semedo down the right inside channel and he times his run to perfection. The Portuguese sends a low cross into the middle for unmarked Griezmann, who hammers a right-footed effort past Ospina.
60' CLOSE! Ter Stegen denies Insigne's effort
SAVE! Insigne weaves his way between Semedo and Pique in the right inside channel and then tries to catch out Ter Stegen with a low strike that is well saved by the Barca keeper at his near post.
76' CHANCE! Umtiti header over the bar
OVER! Messi swings the corner into dangerous area and Umtiti rises to head at goal ahead of Ospina, but he can only glance it over from six yards. The Frenchman just mistimes his jump to miscue his effort.
87' Red Card! Vidal sent off after two yellows
OFF! Vidal receives two yellow cards in the space of a second. One for the challenge on Rui and the other for the aforementioned headbutt on the defender. He's not happy, but he has to go. He receives quite a send from the home supporters.
JohnWick7
6369
Welcome To serie A, a place that makes Alien Messi fells like Human Messi๐๐
Karansaikhom
2525
Nobody: NAPOLI defenders when MESSI got the ball
TimeLW
2242
Serie A teams playing 11 man defence! My admiration goes to Cristiano for scoring week in week out ๐ it means a lot coming from Barcelona fan๐
Edoo87
1867
Insigne always gets the tallest ball-boy. ๐
NILOYSDfoLM10
1763
barca and liverpool faced almost same situation๐ ๐ ๐ bus on defence
AustyNomso
1421
Messi now understands the difference between Italian defence and Spanish defense.... [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
BankoleLonge
1138
Vidal is the definition of Strength Without Sense. After the Forehead Contest with Mario Rui that earned both players a yellow, he just couldn't keep quiet until he talked himself into collecting a red card. When Valverde was busy receiving red card to ensure Real Madrid lift the Laliga Super Cup, this big head with beard like goat-the animal deliberately received a needles red card that could jeopardise the chances of his team progressing. This guy needs to be investigated for match fixing, seems he has placed a huge bet to receive a red card in the game.
Jabclrstyz
1095
4 points from Today's Barcelona draw : other than scoring a Tapin Griezman was useless the whole match, Arthur needs a parmenent place in the first team in place of rakitic and left back junior firpo need more hardwork in defending and ofcorse magnificent Messi always surrounded by 3 to 4 Napoli players through out the whole match, he needs a creative support in the middle and wings
dettaboss4l
1065
Am I the only one who saw Ter Stegen screaming at Semedo to pay attention to the Napoli's last corner๐
LM10DGOAT
1057
For his red card I just think that Vidal was waiting for el classico
mrmerit7
795
Barcelona fans after realizing how good Italian teams are defensively and how wonderful tap_in is
Gamsi
787
if barca doesn't change their negative style of play, then they should forget about the champions league. 1,the make a lot of unnecessary passes which are fruitless. 2,dominating the game and creating no chances, that is just for playing seek 3, they should also stop starting the play from their box, which is encourage by ter stegen. 5, stegen should learn how to clear off the ball on the box instead of passes it. just to point out some weak points according to my analysis
devilwillkill
766
i really think ter stegen is not getting what he deserves guyzz.. firpo was real upset today as he had moved into comfort zone alba being injured. umtiti was good but too agressive where not needed.. and lastly i guess dear setien you need to play frenkie as a RCM with shadow DMF duties.. plz just make him do what he is best at.. he provide very good passes to the front from a dmf position and runs good with the ball forward.. no loft the ball for him.. he just tirelessly moves forward tearing the defence 100 times but no pass...we would have solid defence if we play him as a shadow dmf rather than a cmf. thank you....
boostman
417
Gif here. Like me: http://bit.ly/2Vo6L38
sehajbains_02
118
Yellow to Messi yellow to Griezmann Yellow twice to Vidal Refree was distributing yellow cards as his wedding cards
badciknoru
55
messi vs Eibar and messi vs Napoli
jiweopsuy
15
Welcome To serie A, a place that makes Alien Messi fells like Human Messi๐๐
yes by marking him with 4 defenders at a time
LMSEN
14
Serie A teams playing 11 man defence! My admiration goes to Cristiano for scoring week in week out ๐ it means a lot coming from Barcelona fan๐
Not everyone plays like this and this is in the ucl...even 20th team beat napoli in the league
SIDKAUSH
12
Welcome To serie A, a place that makes Alien Messi fells like Human Messi๐๐
that dude is jist a camp nou goat take him out if there hes like a fish without water gasping for goals [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
Shina-Ayo
12
Messi now understands the difference between Italian defence and Spanish defense.... [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
Napoli don't play like this in SerieA, stop hyping it!!! Lukaku is scoring many goals there.. Immobile, a La liga flop, is the king of goals in SerieA presently!!!
24636501(deleted)
10
ya that's why Italian teams are shiiit in ucl
That is reason why AC MILAN has 8 champions League Cup fool
tatadkz
9
Messi now understands the difference between Italian defence and Spanish defense.... [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
last year he also check Manchester United defence
dettaboss4l
8
Hรฉ did
yes, probably if they same thing happened again, Ter Stegen probably would go to Jail tonight and Semedo 6 feet under next week ๐
vipadknuz
8
Welcome To serie A, a place that makes Alien Messi fells like Human Messi๐๐
Messi has 8 goals against prime AC Milan you deluded fool ..Seria A is where immobile scored 26 , lukaku scores 17 ..not all teams are Roma , juventus ,inter or Napoli to have such good defence !!!