Barcelona qualified for the Champions League quarter-finals thanks to the exceptional performance of its captain, Lionel Messi, against Napoli, whose brilliance became a cover for the defects of the Blaugrana, and without it, the team would not have qualified and repeated its domestic failure in the League that was crowned Real Madrid.

And as he did a lot during his career, the Argentine star was the one with the greatest credit for Barcelona's victory at the Camp Nou, as it took only 20 minutes to defeat Napoli, whose players found no way to stop the dangerous Messi mercurial.

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With great skill, Messi scores the second goal for Barcelona 🥅⚽️ # beINUCL #UCL pic.twitter.com/XOj858UCSF

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 8, 2020

For Barcelona, ​​desperate to win the Champions League this season, to compensate for its domestic failure, his only hope is for his captain Messi, who does not stand in front of him when he is in good condition, but if he is far from his level, he can easily lose Barcelona.

The Spanish newspaper "MARCA" said that Messi has compensated in recent years for many of the deficiencies and technical problems that Barcelona suffers, by scoring the extraordinary goals that lead the Blaugrana to victory even at its worst, which imposed the domination of the team on the domestic title during the decade the last one.

👑 Messi passed here 😱 pic.twitter.com/eK83Rwk5eq

- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) August 2, 2020

The newspaper added that Barcelona's main problem is that the team without the brilliance of Messi becomes normal and finds it difficult to finish the attacks, as the Argentine star finishes in the net of competitors, which made him stand alone in the face of Napoli and surpassed him in Europe, which is also expected to be repeated in front of Bayern Munich.

The newspaper evidenced this through the statistics of the confrontation last Saturday, in which Barcelona won 3-1, although Napoli had the most possession of the ball by 53%, and he was the most volley on goal, but he did not have Messi, who was able to form a dangerous and loose defense in every An attack led by, especially, in the first half that decided the match in favor of Barcelona.

European Champions League

In Messi's glow night ... Barcelona defeat Napoli and reach the Champions League quarter-finals

🎬 Don't miss the match summary and goals 👇 # BarcaNapoli #beINUCL #UCL https://t.co/wdv9fjjrks

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) August 8, 2020

Marca confirmed that if Messi repeats what he did with Napoli's defense against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the tournament, Barcelona would have the highest word as well.

She pointed out that, despite this, Messi cannot be relied upon to save the team in all matches, but stars like Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez must restore the memory of brilliance and help the captain in the offensive third, especially against a strong opponent like Bayern.

🦁 Lion's Roar 🔊🔉 pic.twitter.com/bmxc7qFENF

- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) August 10, 2020

Fortunately Messi was not injured as a result of Kaleido Coulibaly kicking him, as he will only need to rest until facing the Bavarian team, as Barcelona announced.

Messi, 33, had already defeated Bayern on two previous occasions, and he will try to repeat that in the face of Lisbon on Friday.

👑 Score against 35 teams in the #Champions League

⚽ And the account counts ... pic.twitter.com/bI1l7qRqfF

- FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_ara) August 8, 2020