Barcelona 1 – 1 Napoli

February 17, 2022 admin

Barcelona were held 1-1 at home by Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League knockout stage playoff tie on Thursday.

Barca dominated proceedings but found themselves a goal down to the Italians after Piotr Zielinski finished off a counter-attack in the 29th minute.

Barca forward Ferran Torres equalised shortly before the hour mark from the penalty spot after the video assistant referee had spotted a very subtle Juan Jesus’ handball from an Adama Traore cross inside the area.

Barca were on the front foot throughout with their brand new attacking trident formed by new signings Torres, Traore and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but missed several chances to take the lead.

Napoli held on as they were bombarded in the last 10 minutes, with Torres and substitutes Luuk de Jong and Ousmane Dembele missing chance after chance in front of Alex Meret’s goal. The second leg will be played at Napoli next week.

Rangers run riot in Dortmund

Rangers pulled off a stunning 4-2 win away to Borussia Dortmund on Thursday to take command of their Europa League knockout stage playoff tie.

A penalty from James Tavernier put the Glasgow side ahead in the 38th minute before Colombian forward Alfredo Morelos doubled their advantage in the 41st.

John Lundstram added a third in the 49th minute to put Rangers in dreamland although England midfielder Jude Bellingham quickly pulled a goal back in the 51st, smashing into the net from outside the box to give the hosts a foothold in the game.

Rangers took no time to respond, restoring their three-goal advantage in the 54th with an own goal from defender Dan-Axel Zagadou.

Dortmund salvaged some hope for next week’s second leg at Ibrox with a piledriver from Raphael Guerreiro while defender Mats Hummels tried to pull another goal back deep in stoppage time but could only produce a wayward shot which flew over the bar.

Gakpo goal gives PSV advantage

PSV Eindhoven claimed a 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout stage playoff tie on Thursday thanks to an early goal from Cody Gakpo.

The young Dutch winger received a through ball by Mauro Junior in the 11th minute and cleared a defender on the edge of the box before drilling a perfectly-placed shot into the bottom left corner to give the hosts the lead.

The Eredivisie side dominated the match but were not able to increase their advantage and will travel to Israel next week with a slim lead.

Elsewhere, Slavia Prague won 3-2 away at Fenerbahce while Danish side Midtjylland beat PAOK 1-0 at home. Austrian club Rapid Wien had a man sent off but still managed to scrape a 2-1 win over Vitesse Arnhem.