The importance, or lack of it, in scoring first

The Champions League last 16 sees FC Barcelona take on Serie A champions Napoli, a team who have made a habit of scoring first in this season's competition. The club from Campania have done so in all six of the fixtures in Europe in 2023/24, even though they were only capable of going on to win three of those matches, drawing one and losing two. 

Despite going ahead in both games against Real Madrid in the group stage of this season's Champions League, Napoli lost to Carlo Ancelotti's team at home and away. On match day four they were held to a draw by Union Berlin even though the Italians went ahead in the game. 

Three from three for Xavi 

In contrast, Barça have won on all three occasions in which they have taken the lead in the group stage in 2023/24 with victories against Royal Antwerp at home, Shakhtar Donetsk again in the Estadi Lluís Companys and against FC Porto in Lisbon. 

Previous meetings against Napoli 

The two clubs have met on four occasions in European competition, twice in the Champions League and twice in the Europa League. The first clash came in the Covid-19 hit 2019/20 season in the Champions League. In February 2020 Barça took a 1-1 draw in the Stadio Diego Maradona in the last 16 tie with the second leg not being played until August due to the pandemic. In the game at Spotify Camp Nou, Barça took a 3-1 win to move into the quarter finals. 

The tie in the Europa League came in the 2022/23 season in the play off round. After another 1-1 draw in the first leg, this time at home in Barcelona, the blaugranes came out on top in the second leg with a 4-2 victory in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona to claim a place in the last 16.