La Liga giants Barcelona saw one new name added to the list of the club’s stars walking the disciplinary tightrope, during their meeting with Napoli on Wednesday evening.
Barca, of course, marked their return to action on the continent last night, making the trip to Italy for a Champions League Last-16 first leg showdown with Serie A champions Napoli.
When all was said and done, the two sides could not be separated, Robert Lewandowski and Victor Osimhen on target en route to an eventual 1-1 draw.
As much leaves the tie on a knife-edge, ahead of the return leg in Catalunya, in three weeks’ time.
A spot in the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite club competition, as a result, remains very much up for grabs.
Should Barcelona ultimately be the team to advance, though, they could yet find themselves lining out in the last-8 sans the services of more than one important player.
This comes with Xavi and co. now sweating over the potential availability of no fewer than five members of the club’s squad.
Heading into Wednesday’s action, all of Ronald Araújo, João Félix, Sergi Roberto and Ferran Torres were a solitary booking away from a one-game European suspension.
Of this quartet, only Araújo and Félix took to the pitch in Naples, and both, to their credit, avoided a yellow card.
One member of Barca’s ranks who was not so lucky, however, was Frenkie de Jong.
After being booked early in the action last night, the Dutchman has joined his aforementioned teammates in the knowledge that a disciplinary slip-up against Napoli early next month could prove altogether costly down the line.
Conor Laird | GSFN
