Barcelona, Arsenal march into Champions League quarterfinals

LONDON: Barcelona reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years after a thrilling 3-1 home win over Napoli in their last-16 second leg gave them a deserved 4-2 aggregate victory on Tuesday.

Early goals by Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo set the hosts on their way and, after Amir Rrahmani cut the deficit before the break, Robert Lewandowski wrapped up the win with a late third.

Napoli had never beaten Barca in their previous five meetings and it turned out to be a repeat of the 2020 Champions League meeting with a 3-1 home win for the Spanish side after a 1-1 draw in Naples.

That was the last time the Catalans had won a knockout stage game in the competition and their most recent qualification for the last eight.

In a highly entertaining affair at Montjuic Stadium, Barca pressed high early on, giving Napoli little time to settle, and the few attacks the visitors managed to create ended with striker Victor Osimhen offside.

The opening goal came in the 15th minute when Cancelo played in Raphinha down the left wing and he cut into the area and pulled a ball back which Lewandowski let run to the unmarked Fermin who calmly slotted his shot into the bottom left corner.

Napoli had little time to recover before Barca doubled their lead. The visitors pushed forward in search of an equaliser and Barcelona countered with pace.

The excellent Lamine Yamal's cross-field pass found Raphinha who cut into the area and wrong-footed Giovanni Di Lorenzo before curling a shot which came back off the far post and Cancelo was there to drive his first time effort into the net.

Napoli finally found a way through on the half hour when Matteo Politano went past Cancelo in the area before playing the ball back to Rrahmani whose run from the back was rewarded with a sidefooted shot past goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Visiting keeper Alex Meret kept Napoli in the tie with a couple of great saves after the break from Lewandowski and Ilkay Gundogan, but could do nothing about the final goal.

Arsenal survived a penalty shootout to scrape past FC Porto and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 14 years after a tense last-16 duel had ended 1-1 on aggregate.

The hosts coolly converted their first four penalties with Porto's Wendell hitting the post before David Raya saved Galeno's effort to send Arsenal through 4-2 in the shootout after the match finished 1-0 to the London club after extra time.

Leandro Trossard's effort levelled the contest on aggregate shortly before halftime but Premier League leaders Arsenal were frustrated by the Portuguese side.

Extra time failed to separate the sides but Mike Arteta's team held their nerve to snap a run of seven successive exits at the last-16 stage. Agencies

Also Read: Champions League: Former Champions Barcelona take on Napoli in vital game

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