“Clear Penalty on Osimhen”: Napoli Coach Berates Officials After Barcelona Loss

• Napoli’s exit from the UCL has left Francesco Calzona frustrated
• The Italian believes Napoli should have been awarded a penalty
• Barcelona beat Napoli 3-1 to advance to the UCL quarter-finals

Napoli head coach, Francesco Calzona, is angry at the match officials and Video Assistant Referees (VAR) for not awarding his team a penalty in the Champions League defeat to Barcelona.

After playing 1-1 in the first leg in Naples, the Serie A club collapsed in the second leg in Spain, losing 3-1 to the Catalan giants as they crashed out of Europe’s most prestigious competition in the Round of 16.

Per Gianluca Dimarzio, Calzona made his frustrations clear after the game as he felt the referee and VAR denied Napoli a clear penalty in the tie after Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi had fouled Victor Osimhen inside the box.

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"I saw it again and to me, it seemed like a clear penalty, then I heard the experts who say the same thing. I don't understand why the VAR at these levels don't take enough time to decide, given that they decided quickly.

“I'm sorry about this because it could have changed the fate of this match "

Barcelona qualified for the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since the 2019/20 season, defeating Napoli 3-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate.

Osimhen caged by Barca youngster

Meanwhile, Barcelona wonderkid Cubarsi was the star of the show in the UCL second-leg victory over Napoli after the 17-year-old defender kept Osimhen at bay all through the encounter.

Making his Champions League debut, in a must-win encounter no less, the teenage La Masia graduate put on a top performance, managing to deal with the threat of Osimhen fairly easily, Barca Universal reports.

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Speaking after the game, Cubarsi, who was named Man of the Match, said that Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez had assisted him in preparing to deal with the threat posed by the Napoli attacker that night.

UCL quarter-finals almost set

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that the cast for the last eight of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League is almost complete after Arsenal and Barcelona sealed qualification.

La Blaugrana and the Gunners join teams like Manchester City, Bayer Munich, Real Madrid, and Paris Saint-Germain who have already booked their spot in the UCL quarter-finals.

The winners of the tie between Atletico Madrid versus Inter Milan, and Borussia Dortmund versus PSV Eindhoven will join the rest for the quarter-final draw on Friday.