The dominance of Europe is gone

FC Barcelona drew 1-1 with SSC Napoli in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg of the 2023-2024 season at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, Italy, at 5:00 a.m. ET today.

Barcelona opened the scoring in the 15th minute of the second leg when Robert Lewandowski took advantage of a forward pass from Pedri to beat two defenders in the box with a low, quick shot.

Napoli equalized shortly afterward. In the 30th minute of the second half, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa passed to Victor Osimhen in the box, who, like Lewandowski, 바카라사이트 scored the equalizer with a low, quick shot.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

After winning the league title last season, their first in 33 years, Napoli will be a completely different team in 2023-2024.

Having gone through two managers this season alone, Napoli are currently in ninth place in the league with 36 points (10 wins, 6 draws, and 8 losses).

Barcelona’s disappointing draw against Napoli was a bit of a surprise. With an even 51% share of possession, 12 shots on goal and six on target (Napoli 6, Napoli 1), Barcelona were unable to secure another away round of 16 victory.

Barcelona’s last away Champions League round of 16 win was a 2-0 victory at Arsenal in the 2015-2016 season. The Catalans won the first leg 2-0 away from home and then won the second leg 3-1 at home for a combined score of 5-1. Barcelona lost to Juventus in the quarterfinals that season.

“FC Barcelona has one win, four draws, and five losses in 10 UCL tournaments,” according to soccer statistics firm Optazo, 사설 토토사이트 “with the last win coming in April 2019, a 1-0 victory over Manchester United.”

In short, they haven’t won a tournament in over four years. “In their last 10 games in the tournament, Barça have scored just four goals,” Optazo noted, “and in six of those games, they didn’t even score at all.”

After the 1-1 draw away from home, Barcelona will host Napoli on March 13 for the second leg of the round of 16.