Gündoğan had Barcelona's victory at his feet, but missed in the last minute

With the Porto vs Arsenal and Napoli vs Barcelona matches on Wednesday, the first legs of the Champions League round of 16 were completed. There were some expected results, such as the victories of Real Madrid and Manchester City against RB Leipzig and Copenhagen, respectively, but also some surprises. Probably the most important of them was the defeat of Bayern Munich in Italy, 1-0 vs Lazio, which complicated the Bavarian side's plans for the second leg, while accelerating the departure of coach Thomas Tuchel, who will leave at the end of the season.

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Barcelona are better than Napoli, but the match is goalless thanks to Meret

Barcelona had an opportunity on Wednesday, but also a pressure. They know that their only chance to win a title this season is the Champions League and that is why they cannot fail. Against the last champions of Serie A they needed to show an improvement in their performances compared to the matches of the last weeks, as the demands of the European tournament are much higher than those of La Liga.

And lived up to expectations. Especially during the first half, they showed a good level and were noticeably better than their opponents. In fact, they controlled the ball and created several chances to score through Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal and Ilkay Gundogan that were saved by goalkeeper Meret.

Los Blaugranas deserved to go into the break on top, but it was not until the start of the second half when Pedri gave a great assist to Lewandowski and the Polish striker took his time inside the box to find the right space and shoot with precision. The joy was short-lived for them, however, as 15 minutes later Victor Osimhen showed why he is one of the most coveted strikers in Europe and netted the leveller. In stoppage time Gundogan came very close to grabbing the winner, but his shot went wide by inches.

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What's next for them?

The second leg of the round of 16 between Barcelona and Napoli will be played at Montjuic on Tuesday, March 12. Before that, Los Blaugranas will have several matches in La Liga: they will face Getafe, Athletic Bilbao and Real Mallorca. Napoli will play against Cagliari, Juventus and Torino in Serie A.