The joy after the third goal said it all: they were so happy and relieved. For the first time in four years, Barcelona made it to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. They beat Napoli 3-1 in the second leg at home, which put them through 4-2 overall.

When Ilkay Gundogan and Sergio Roberto played a one-two inside the penalty area and then Robert Lewandowski scored, it looked like the whole Barcelona bench was on the field to swarm the goalie. While everyone else was warming up, Hector Fort was right in the middle of it. 

Iñigo Martinez and Marc Guiu were sitting on the bench, but they both ran into the middle of the huddle to join the fun. In the technical area, Xavi gave a hug to his coaches. Not only did Barcelona go through this, but they also kept their season alive and made around 10 million euros in the process, which they still badly needed to keep the wolf of their high pay bill from the door.

An exciting start to the game was set off when Victor Osimhen ran in behind the home team’s defenders and Marc Andre Ter Stegen made a save.

Very quickly, Barça’s teens took charge. There are only 33 years between Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal, but they are both now in charge of Xavi’s team.

Cubarsi stopped the danger by making a hard tackle on Osimhen at one end, and then he played a beautiful pass over the top of Napoli’s defenders to let Fermin Lopez through at the other. The player who started because Frenkie de Jong and Pedri were both hurt sent his shot over the goal.

At the 15-minute mark, Barcelona took the lead thanks to a pass from Cubarsi to Joao Cancelo. He set up Raphinha’s cross, and Fermin scored from the penalty spot. He turned around to celebrate almost before the ball went into the net.

In two minutes, it was two, and this time Yamal was the one who made it. There was a big hole in the middle of the pitch, and Yamal sped into it after beating Stanislav Lobotka to a loose ball and then setting Raphinha free. 

Cancelo scored after his shot hit the post and went back in. After so many shocking starts to games this season, Barcelona’s bench went crazy with joy this time. It was too good to be true.

Napoli scored again after thirty minutes. Mateo Politano ran in behind Cancelo after a quick throw down the right, and when he crossed the ball, Amir Rrahmani scored the first goal a defence had given up since Napoli scored in the first match. Soon after, Politano almost tied the game with a header, but Ter Stegen tipped it over the bar. 

Before the break, Barcelona looked weak, and Ilkay Gundogan was mad at Raphinha for not keeping the ball in the corner and taking pressure off of the defence, which was already having a bad game.

In the second half, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had the first chance. He took a spinning shot that just missed Ter Stegen’s left post. Barcelona was defending deep and was being pushed hard. On the hour mark, Xavi replaced Fermin and Andreas Christensen, who had been sent off, with Oriol Romeu and Serio Roberto. He did this because he was feeling nervous.

Mathias Olivera was arrested for killing Lamine because he was still a threat. The free kick was cleared, but the next charge made it look like Yamal had scored, becoming the youngest player in Champions League history. However, the flag for offside was raised, and his close-range goal was ruled out. He almost scored again, but his shot missed the target.

Barcelona looked like they could handle Napoli’s early second-half attack, but Jesper Lindstrom’s header from Kvaratskhelia’s cross went just wide. His aim was off, and he was by himself. There was still a fear.

Then the third goal, which made most of the 50,000 people in the Olympic Stadium breathe a sigh of relief. Barcelona was back in the top eight teams in Europe.