26th Feb 2020
Champions League Round of 16, First Leg Round-Up and Highlights, 25 Feb 2020
Barcelona traveled to Napoli and Chelsea hosted Bayern Munich for the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 clashes. Here is everything that went down on Tuesday night.
Napoli 1 – 1 Barcelona
Ready to kick-off with an insane stat? This was the first time in history that Barcelona and Napoli have ever faced each other in an official game. 👀 And just as we predicted the two teams drew 1-1, in a clash that saw strong Napoli let a drowsy Barca leave Stadio San Paolo with an away goal to their name.
Barcelona, who held lifeless possession and produced the grand total of two shots on target, were going through some kind of crisis and Napoli quickly used it to their advantage. The explosive home crowd was deafening San Paolo when out of nowhere, Napoli caught Barca on the counterattack and Dries Mertens finished the move with an absolute stunner in the top corner thirty minutes in.
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Mertens is now level with Hamšík as Napoli’s all-time leading goalscorer 🔥🔥🔥 #UCL
Napoli’s superior defense line was hugely impressive and the electrifying energy of the home crowd was pure joy. Barcelona showed nothing in the first half, and the second did not promise much. They completed 724 passes in the game and somehow waited almost an hour for their first shot on target. Antoine Griezmann turned home a low cross by Nelson Semedo in the 57th minute, gifting Barca with an away goal ahead of the return fixture.
9 – Antoine Griezmann has scored his first away Champions League goal since February 2017 for Atletico Madrid against Bayer Leverkusen; each of his nine goals in the competition between that strike in 2017 and today had been scored at home. Equaliser. pic.twitter.com/IJbdS6fB2Z
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 25, 2020
Arturo Vidal had an unfortunate moment when he got sent off in the 87th minute, leaving Barcelona with ten men. The Chilean star fouled Mario Rui and then had a forehead-to-forehead-soft-headbutt jiff with the defender, handing himself a second yellow to his reaction to the first yellow. Classic Arturo…
Barcelona will welcome Napoli at Camp Nou on March 18th without Vidal, Sergio Busquets and a growing list of injuries. What are your predictions?
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📸 Gli scatti di Napoli – Barcellona #NAPBAR 💙 #ForzaNapoliSempre
6 – FC Barcelona have failed to win in all their last six Knockout stage games played on the road against Italian sides (D2 L4) in Champions League. Wall.#NapoliBarcellona #NapoliBarca pic.twitter.com/774jqjT73I
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 25, 2020
Chelsea 0 – 3 Bayern Munich
London was red on Tuesday night as brilliant Bayern thashed poor Chelsea three goals to nil at Stamford Bridge, exactly as we had predicted. Serge Gnabry’s two goals in three minutes and Robert Lewandowski for the winner completely brutalized Chelsea’s path to the Champions League quarter-final.
3 – Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich is their heaviest ever margin of defeat in a home game in European competition. Humbled. #CHEBAY pic.twitter.com/7fogH1yN2T
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 25, 2020
🇩🇪 Heaviest home #UCL defeats:
Arsenal – 1-5 v Bayern, Mar 2017
Tottenham – 2-7 v Bayern, Oct 2019
Chelsea – 0-3 v Bayern, Feb 2020 pic.twitter.com/JdHhgiPKBh— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) February 25, 2020
Frank Lampard’s men were outclassed in every sense of the word. Their slow pace, countless mishaps, and general confusion were no match for Bayern’s quality. The first half saw dangerous chances by Lewandowski, Kingsley Coman, and Thomas Muller, but produced no goals.
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SUPER BAYERN! SUPER BAYERN! HEY! HEY! #MiaSanMia #FCBayern #CFCFCB #packmas
The second half had a stronger start. Bayern hero Gnabry hammered in Lawa’s cut-back and then created a smooth finish to give his side a two-goal lead in minutes 51 and 54. He is now the first player in Champions League history to score each of his first six goals in the tournament all against sides from the same nation (4 vs Tottenham, 2 vs Chelsea).
9 – Robert Lewandowski has scored nine away goals in the Champions League this season; the joint-most by a player in a single campaign, along with Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013-14. Invader. #CHEBAY pic.twitter.com/VS05SuBX7G
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 25, 2020
Twenty minutes later, the spectacular Alphonso Davies (yes, we are big fans) set up Lewandowski for a third. And then Alonso was sent off for smacking the Poland international in the face, forcing Chelsea to finish the game with ten men.
“The performance was poor and sometimes you have to be brutally honest,” admitted Lampard. “They outclassed us in every department and it’s quite sobering.” Fingers crossed you are sober enough for the return leg in Munich on March 18th, Frank…
That’s it from Tuesday’s Champions League clashes! See you on Wednesday night for Lyon vs Juventus and Real Madrid vs Manchester City. Make sure you bet with 22Bet!
