Again, the Barcelona de Xavi finds himself before a determining match in which his future is at stake in a competition. He fell in the Champions League, he fell in the Super Cup and also in the Cup and tonight in Naples (9:00 p.m. Movistar Champions League) returns to a heads or tails match. And it does so with the added difficulty that it is at home and in Europe, the scene of the latest worst nightmares for Barcelona fans.
This even more difficult one connects with the debacles that the Barcelona team has taken in its latest excursions around Europe every time he has visited a team of its size (follow the game live on AS.com). Without needing to remember the embarrassments in Lisbon against Bayern, Paris, Rome, Turin or Liverpool, this year, Barça was very badly injured during their visit to Benfica and to Allianz Arena.
From those sludge, comes the current situation of the Barcelona team, condemned to play the Europa League. And if you want to continue in it as a way to win a Plaza de Champions League face to face to the next course it is mandatory to win at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
At Going match the Barça finished with very good sensations after wasting a first half in which Napoli went ahead. In the imagination of the Barcelona dressing room the last impression has remained: that Barça deserved arrive tonight in Naples with the tie almost sentenced.
For Barcelona, the game should be a continuation of the last twenty minutes that were played at the Camp Nou, in which wasted several chances of goal.
However, the Naples also comes with lesson well learned. They are aware that in that first half they handcuffed Barcelona and that they hurt the counterattack. This time with Oshimen ya en plena forma and a tightening field, the challenge will be even more complicated.