Five key stats from Napoli 2-4 Barcelona

Barcelona’s trip to Italy ended with them rejoicing after thrashing Napoli 4-2 to progress through to the UEFA Europa League Round of 16.

Having been held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Camp Nou last week, Xavi Hernandez & co. were up against it, considering Napoli’s impressive home record in European ties after drawing the first leg away from home.

But some stunning attacking football in the first half saw Barça put Napoli to the sword, to take a 3-1 lead. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added the fourth in the second half to confirm the team’s progression to the next phase of the competition.

We now take a look at five standout statistics in the aftermath of the Catalan giants’ resounding victory in Naples.

Barcelona make goalscoring history

Napoli have played 106 European games at home in the history of the club. But Thursday’s game was only the second instance when a team managed to score four goals past them.

Barcelona became the second team to do so after Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City had hit four against Napoli in the Champions League in 2017. Interestingly, both the games ended in a 4-2 scoreline for the away team.

Goal-shy Barcelona turning things around

Goals had been a problem for Barcelona in the first half of the season, especially in the Champions League. However, things certainly seem to be turning around for the Catalans under Xavi.

Having scored four goals at the Mestalla against Valencia last weekend, the Blaugrana netted four times again on Thursday night away at Napoli. It is the first time that the team has scored 4+ goals in back-to-back away games since 2018/19.

First-half demolition

Barcelona blew Napoli away on Thursday night with a scintillating first-half display during which they scored three goals, with strikes coming from Jordi Alba, Frenkie de Jong and Gerard Pique.

This is only the second time in history that Barcelona scored 3+ goals in the first half of an away game in European knockouts. The first time was back in 1957 vs Birmingham in the Fairs Cup, in a game that Barça lost 4-3.

More goalscoring exploits

Thursday’s game was also the first time in more than 20 years that Barcelona scored four or more goals in an away encounter in European competitions. The last time it happened was in 2001, against Wisla Krakow, a game in which the current manager, Xavi, played.

Doing away with the ‘away day blues’

Up until the game on Thursday, Barcelona had lost three of their six European ties when the first leg at home had ended in a 1-1 draw. The last such tie had seen Barça lose to Atletico Madrid in 2013/14, after having been previously beaten by AC Milan (1989/90) and PSG (1994/95).

Given some of their performances away from home this season, and Napoli’s record at home, the trip to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium was always going to be a steep challenge. But Xavi’s men pulled through to pick up a handsome victory to book a berth in the next round.

In the process, Napoli became the fourth team after Lech Poznan, Legia Warsaw and Fiorentina that Barcelona defeated in European ties after the first leg finished in 1-1 statemate.