By Safiu Kehinde
Barcelona manager, Xavi Hernandez has expressed his displeasure over his team’s draw at home with Napoli at the Europa League play-off on Thursday.
The Camp Nou stadium was short of the fortress it used to be as Barcelona had to force a 1-1 draw against Napoli. Having failed to progress into the Champions League round of 16, the Blaugrana were dropped into the second tier of European football for the first time in nearly two decades.
Indeed, it was an usual relegation for the five-time Champions League winners whose first test was to overcome Napoli. The test, however, appeared to be difficult for Xavi’s men as they languished behind the Italian side after Piotr Zielinski finished off a counterattack in the 29th minute to give Napoli the lead at the Camp Nou.
With a line-up spearheaded by their three new signings, Pierre Aubmeyang, Ferran Torres, and Adama Traore, Barcelona got one back courtesy Torres’ penalty conversion before the half-time. Napoli’s Juan Jesus committed a handball in the penalty area as spotted by VAR, gifting their 1-0 lead to the home team.
Despite dominating the match, Barcelona proved too wasteful upfront to the dissatisfaction of Xavi. They could only record five shots on target, putting away 13 off target.
Speaking after the match, Xavi condemned his team’s wastefulness. “I’m sad because it makes me angry that [Barcelona] missed so many chances because it’s a game to, at least win,” he said.
“I think that the only thing that we lacked was to convert the chances. We were good in the high press. After going behind, we generated 20 chances and six or seven were very clear.
“It was a complete game. The result should be a victory and, being fair, by at least a couple of goals. We played well, but we’re competing in the Europa League. This isn’t about feelings, it’s about results, and the game was excellent,” the infuriated manager added.
