FC Barcelona strikes back to tie Napoli in the Europa League

On Thursday, Barcelona came from behind to secure a 1-1 tie with Napoli in their Europa League elimination stage playoff first leg at the Camp Nou.

The hosts dominated possession in the first 30 minutes and had numerous good chances to take the lead, but Napoli was the first to strike.

Following an excellent counter-attack, Piotr Zielinski slammed the rebound from his own shot into the top of the net.

VAR concluded that Napoli’s Juan Jesus struck an Adama Traore cross with his hand in the box, bringing FC Barcelona level soon before the hour mark.

Ferran Torres dispatched his penalty kick to make it 1-1.

The hosts were on the front foot throughout with their brand new attacking trident formed by new signings Torres, Traore and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

But they missed several goalscoring chances to take the lead.

Napoli held on as they were bombarded in the last 10 minutes, with Torres and substitutes Luuk de Jong and Ousmane Dembele missing chance after chance in front of Alex Meret’s goal.

The two teams will meet again in Naples on Thursday for the decisive second leg.