{"id":375404,"date":"2024-03-12T21:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T22:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=375404"},"modified":"2024-03-13T01:04:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T01:04:51","slug":"barcelona-emphatically-break-champions-league-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=375404","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona emphatically break Champions League drought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona<\/a> returned to the quarter-finals of the Champions League<\/a> for the first time in four years with a 3-1 win over Napoli.<\/p>\n

Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez, Jo\u00e3o Cancelo, and Robert Lewandowski scored for Barcelona as it advanced 4-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Italy three weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Amir Rrahmani scored for Napoli, which couldn't repeat its last-eight appearance from last season.<\/p>\n

Watch football's biggest clubs and best players in the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League,<\/strong><\/em> streaming ad free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Barcelona had been eliminated in the group stage the last two years and hadn't reached the quarterfinals since 2019-20, when it lost to Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

\"Sergi<\/p>\n

The Champions League could be Barcelona's last realistic chance for a title this season. It was eliminated in the Copa del Rey and trails Spanish league leader Real Madrid by seven points.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Red Bull supremo's ominous Ricciardo message<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Lockyer's 'positive' as star makes worrying new claim<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Aussie Perry stuns with 'greatest performance'<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/p>\n

Barcelona struggled to keep Napoli from threatening after taking the early lead at Estadi Ol\u00edmpic Llu\u00eds Companys.<\/p>\n

Goalkeeper Marc-Andr\u00e9 ter Stegen, making his 100th UEFA appearance, was tested often by Napoli's attack.<\/p>\n

Barcelona had a few chances to increase its lead on counterattacks before Lewandowski sealed the win from close range in the 83rd after an assist by substitute Sergi Roberto.<\/p>\n

\"Barcelona<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez put the hosts ahead with a shot from the middle of the area in the 15th minute after a low cross by Raphinha, who also set up Cancelo's goal two minutes later.<\/p>\n

The Brazil forward hit the post from inside the area and the ball bounced back for an easy strike by Cancelo.<\/p>\n

Napoli got on the board in the 30th with Rrahmani finding the net with a low left-footed shot for his first European goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barcelona returned to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in four years with a 3-1 win over Napoli. Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez, Jo\u00e3o […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":375406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375404"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375404"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375409,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375404\/revisions\/375409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/375406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}