Barcelona coach Quique Setien has concerns that holding their second leg Champions League tie with Napoli at a neutral ground could be ‘damaging’ to his team.
An Antoine Griezmann goal cancelled out Dries Mertens’ opener as the two sides drew 1-1 at the Stadio San Paulo.
The return leg at the Nou Camp was postponed and is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic – though the plan is for the competition to resume in August.
However, it is possible that the return leg won’t be at the Nou Camp, with suggestions of a mini-tournament to be played out in Portugal to conclude the competition.
And as reported by Football Italia, Setien spoke about the issue during his pre-match press conference ahead of their LaLiga return on Saturday night against Mallorca.
He said: ‘It would be damaging for us to play Napoli on neutral turf, seeing as we already faced them on their home ground at the San Paolo.
‘If this is the scenario, then we’d have to accept it. Things are still up in the air, there are various suggestions, so we’ll see what happens.’
Holding the competition in Portugal is aimed at limiting travel and keeping teams to an area that wasn’t as heavily affected by Covid-19.
Setien is hoping to give Barcelona a successful end to their season, and they hold a two-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga as they resume their campaign against Mallorca.
There is big pressure on Barcelona to succeed in the Champions League, as the five-time winners have not won the competition since 2015.
They are also keen to overcome disappointments from the last two years where they have been knocked out from winning positions.
After holding a 4-1 lead against Roma in 2018, they went out on away goals after goals by Edin Dzeko, Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas gave the Italians a 3-0 home win.
A year later they held a 3-0 lead against eventual champions Liverpool in the semi-finals, before Jurgen Klopp’s side made a famous comeback with braces from Divock Origi and Gini
SOURCE:- allfootballapp
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