Barcelona qualified for the round of 16 of the Champions League

Two goals from Joao Cancelo and Joao Félix bBarcelona beat Porto (2-1) this Tuesday in Lluís Company Olympic Stadiumand they sealed the azulgrana’s passage to Round of 16 of the Champions League for the first time in the last three seasons.

Furthermore, Barça was practically classified as the first in Group H, since for second place they would have to lose away to Antwerp, a team that has not won a single point in this championsand that Shakhtar Donetsk will win by more than seven goals in Porto.

In his first final of the season, Xavi left Lamine Yamal, Balde and Fermín on the bench and opted for the most veterans, with a system of three center backs and I cancel opening the field practically as a left winger.

He was a Barça Well-intentioned at the start, but again unable to suggest anything about football. The possibility that Frenkie de Jong overcoming the driving lines was the only solution when it came to getting the ball and, when that happened, the team showed the same shortcomings as always for combining in the three-quarter line.

The sterile local dominance in the first ten minutes was translated into a single shot Raphinhawho tested Diogo Costa with a sharp left foot in front.

He Port, Instead, he got more and more comfortable and began to hover around the goal. Iñaki Peña, who repeated ownership due to Ter Stegen’s still unhealed lower back pain.

The Portuguese was cautioned at the goal Taremi which the referee canceled due to offside in the 26th minute. And they continued the offensive with two strikes from Galen. Iñaki Peña He sent the first one into the corner, and he deflected the second one in the continuation, but this deflected shot of his will end up in the right boot of Pepê, who did not forgive 0-1 after only half an hour.

Barcelona did not have time to concede the kick, because two minutes later, I cancel He scored the equalizer after some great personal play on the left wing. It was just a prelude to what was to come later.
The game went into a shootout in which Jao Félix denied Barça a second goal with a shot from the penalty spot into the clouds after an assist from Raphinhaand again Iñaki Peña saved the ball from Varela’s placed shot shortly before the break.

Barça improved at the start of the second half, especially thanks to Joaos’ connection on the left wing. Joao Felix He warned in the first game of the second half with a howitzer that hit the crossbar. And Joao Cancelo started creating chaos on the wing, looking for his compatriot at the slightest opportunity.

In one of those combinations between the two, it would be 2-1 in the 57th minute, the work of Joan Félix, who first subtly finished Cancelo.
To Lewandowskiunprecedented in a strike during the first hour of play, he headed in shortly after the cross, of course, Cancelo, who was about to score a third in another display of technique with a changed leg.

Raphinha and Ferran Torres, who came on for Jao Félix, also unsuccessfully tried to extend Barca’s account. Faced with the desperation of Lewandowski, who continues, as in recent weeks, to look for more highlights from his teammates and fight with the goal and himself.

Porto, who played a better game, was at the mercy of the Catalan team for almost the entire second half, but in the last part, they still had two opportunities to equalize: in a counterattack that, between Pepê and Taremi, failed. get the right to climax, and in the frame Francisco Coinceiçao blocked by Iñaki Peñto.
Even so, Raphinha He had the best chance with two minutes left in regulation time with a spectacular bicycle kick that Diogo Costa sent into the corner and would have been the goal of the night.