Barcelona ahead Ferran Torres equalised rapidly sooner than the hour heed from the penalty space after the video assistant referee had noticed a extraordinarily refined Juan Jesus’ handball from a Adama Traore crude contained in the residing.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres (left) celebrates after scoring towards Napoli in their UEFA Europa League match. (Photo: Reuters)
Barcelona had been held 1-1 at home by Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League knockout stage playoff tie on Thursday (February 17). Barca dominated complaints but found themselves a purpose down to the Italians after Piotr Zielinski completed off a counter-assault in the 29th minute.
Barca ahead Ferran Torres equalised rapidly sooner than the hour heed from the penalty space after the video assistant referee had noticed a extraordinarily refined Juan Jesus’ handball from a Adama Traore crude contained in the residing. Barca had been on the front foot in the course of with their stamp unusual attacking trident fashioned by unusual signings Torres, Traore and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but overlooked several potentialities to buy the lead.
Paunchy Time #BarcaNapoli pic.twitter.com/Atqk0XktVI
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 17, 2022
Napoli held on as they had been bombarded in the closing ten minutes, with Torres and substitutes Luuk de Jong and Ousmane Dembele missing likelihood after likelihood in front of Alex Meret’s purpose. The 2nd leg will be played at Napoli next week.
Any other place, Precise Betis defeated 3-2 Zenit St Petersburg after scoring twice in the first 20 minutes through Guido Rodriguez and Willian Jose. Nonetheless the Russian aspect fought relieve to equalise with two targets in three minutes scored by Artem Dzyuba and Malcom.
Nonetheless, frail midfielder Andres Guardado found the winner for Betis good sooner than halftime, as the LaLiga aspect held on to hand Zenit their first home loss since October 2021. Sheriff Tiraspol beat Braga 2-0 at home in Moldova on yarn of targets from Sebastien Thill and Adama Traore. The shock of the evening came in Germany as Scottish aspect Rangers beat Borussia Dortmund 4-2.
Later, Porto fought relieve to obtain a 2-1 home buy towards Lazio on yarn of a brace from Spanish striker Toni Martinez. Atalanta also came relieve from a purpose down to beat Olympiakos Piraeus 2-1 at home.
In Germany, Leipzig rescued a 2-2 draw towards Precise Sociedad on yarn of a late Emil Forsberg penalty. In Spain, LaLiga 2nd-positioned aspect Sevilla obtained 3-1 towards Dinamo Zagreb.
(with Reuters inputs)
