In the Zone: Barcelona 3-1 Napoli performance analysis

Barcelona's 3-1 victory over Napoli on Tuesday took them into the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2020. The win featured sparkling contributions from two young players in European debutant Pau Cubarsí and Fermín, scorer of the opening goal.

In this article brought to you by FedEx, UEFA technical observer Giovanni van Bronckhorst, working with the UEFA analysis unit, shines a light on these two young Barcelona talents. He also shows how two more experienced players caught the eye in midfield.

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Fermín's well-timed runs and ability with ball

To quote Van Bronckhorst, Barcelona's "good, effective runs from deep" were a noteworthy feature of their performance in the first half. An early example came from Fermín when he broke on to Cubarsí's ball behind the Napoli back line but lifted his shot over the crossbar.

As well as the timing of his runs, Fermín showed that he can also use the ball in tight areas – illustrated in the video above in a sequence where he combines first with Lamine Yamal and then İlkay Gündoğan, in a move which ends with João Cancelo entering the box.

Fermín also showed the ability to pop up in space between the lines to receive the ball – and that spatial awareness was never more apparent than with his arrival in the Napoli box to score the opening goal. As we see in the video, it is telling that he does not sprint into the box but holds back for a moment before arriving at the perfect time to meet the low centre from Raphinha.

With it, aged 20 years and 306 days, he became the youngest Barcelona player to score in the knockout stages of the competition since Ousmane Dembélé in March 2018, though he has certainly had a different trajectory to Dembélé. On the same day 12 months ago, Fermín – then on loan from Barcelona Atlètic, the club's junior side – was playing for Linares against Fuenlabrada in the Spanish third tier.

This season, his big opportunity has arisen and he has grabbed it. A measure of his desire and application on this night was that, despite leaving the action on the hour, he still ended the game with most pressures applied, with 71 – two more than Napoli's Stanislav Lobotka.

Xavi: Cubarsí 'always finds the spare man'

Seventeen-year-old Cubarsí made his league debut for Barcelona on 21 January. Seven weeks and two days later, the young centre-back made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League in this second-leg contest, and such was his impact that he walked away with the Player of the Match award.

The most striking element of his display was a level of composure far beyond his years – which came accompanied by an impressive passing range. "I like to come out and play from the back," he told the Movistar Plus+ pitchside reporter afterwards. The video above offers two examples of his ability to escape tight situations and open up the game with accurate long passes.

Barcelona coach Xavi told UEFA.com after the game that "he's got a fantastically organised and clear mind" and he elaborated further when saying of Cubarsí: "He doesn't get nervous, he has a very calm personality and this helps him bring the ball out. He's fantastic – he always finds the spare man. He has that tranquility. He'll pause and get the timing right to generate attacking plays."

To illustrate this point, Cubarsí ended his UEFA Champions League debut having made more line-breaking passes than any other player on the pitch. With 13, he had one more than the trio of Jules Koundé, Amir Rrahmani and Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

As well as an eye for a pass, the teenager displayed his defensive ability too. A minute after freeing Fermín with the ball over the top shown in the first video, Cubarsí produced the block featured in clip three of this second video – and both his defensive awareness and his body positioning stand out as he averts the danger.

In the final clip, we see him step upfield to get tight and apply pressure on Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, showing he can defend aggressively too.

Lobotka and Gündoğan excel under pressure

In this final video, the focus shifts from two exciting youngsters to a pair of wise old heads in Napoli midfielder Lobotka and Barcelona's Gündoğan. The opening clips present examples of Lobotka's work in escaping the press; he displays calmness on the ball and the desire to play forward.

It was a night when Napoli suffered for their slow start, conceding goals after 15 and 17 minutes as Barcelona escaped their attempts to press and got players in behind. "In the opening 20 minutes we didn't do well, we often lost possession and Barcelona used their quality to take their chances," said Lobotka. "Then we started playing our football, we created opportunities, but we needed to be more clinical."

By contrast, Barcelona were clinical with a beautifully worked third goal to settle the tie, as seen in the final clip. The UEFA analysis unit picked out the role played here by Gündoğan. We see him scanning four times before he receives the ball; he then takes a couple of touches and plays an excellent through ball to Sergi Roberto, who tees up Robert Lewandowski to finish.

With this action, Gündoğan offers a masterclass to any young midfielder, showing the need for composure on the ball as well as an understanding of the space around you in order to create effectively.