Napoli vs Barcelona: Battle of Naples As Osimhen Faces Off With Aubameyang Yet Again in Europa League Clash

• Napoli vs Barcelona will see both sides slug it out for a place in the Europa League quarterfinal on Thursday night
• The first leg of this massive fixture ended 1-1 at the Camp Nou and there is all to play for when these two teams meet in Naples
• Victor Osimhen and Adama Traore are the players to watch out for as a quarterfinal ticket is up for grabs

Napoli missed out on a chance of a famous win at the Camp Nou as Ferran Torres equalised for Barcelona after Piotr Zielinski had put the Italians ahead.

With the first leg ending 1-1 back in Spain, the reverse fixture at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona will see both teams go all out for the win on Thursday night.

The Europa League is alien to Barcelona, and Napoli would boast the upper hand in this tie, but the abolition of the away goals rule means that it is all to play for on the Naples turf.

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Team News

Luciano Spalletti’s men will approach the encounter following their 1-1 draw against Cagliari in the Serie A as they failed to move back to top of the standings, but will go for the win against Xavi’s men.

Barcelona have a new look, after the duo of Dani Alves and Gerard Pique both served domestic suspensions at the weekend.

Only Pique will be available for the clash and Jordi Alba's impending La Liga ban means nothing for this contest.

Clement Lenglet, Memphis Depay, Samuel Umtiti, Ansu Fati, Alejandro Balde and Sergi Roberto will all miss out for the visitors, who have fresh concerns over Eric Garcia and Frenkie de Jong after their early substitutions against Valencia.

Possible lineups via Sports Mole

Napoli possible starting lineup:

Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Jesus; Ruiz, Demme; Elmas, Zielinski, Mertens; Osimhen

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Pique, Alba; Pedri, Busquets, Gavi; Traore, Aubameyang, Torres

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Napoli blow chance to go top of Serie A

Meanwhile, Victor Osimhen was the hero for Napoli as the Super Eagles striker singlehandedly rescued a point for Luciano Spaletti’s side against Cagliari on Monday, February 21.

The Super Eagles striker came off the bench to score his seventh league goal of the season in the 87th minute to level against relegation-threatened Cagliari side who took a surprise lead early in the second half.

A goalkeeping blunder by David Ospina gifted Cagliari the lead after Pereiro hit a speculative long shot which the Napoli goalkeeper allowed to slip through his hands.

Barcelona intensify efforts to land Haaland

Sports Brief earlier reported that Barcelona and Real Madrid have intensified their efforts in their chase of Borussia Dortmund striker, Erling Haaland ahead of the summer transfer window.

The Norwegian striker has been on the radar of top European teams for his impressive display for the German club since arriving in 2019.

The Spanish clubs have also remained in contact with the player's entourage to assure them that the interest is still very much present and alive.