Napoli v Barcelona: Champions League last 16 – live!

Dries Mertens can do some incredible things with bubble gum:

Given the conditions, lots of fans seem to think it’s acceptable to wear these:

And lots of them are also wearing surgical masks.

Team news update: Umtiti and De Jong come in for Barcelona, with Lenglet and Arthur dropping to the bench. Napoli also make two changes, Zielinski and Callejon coming into the starting XI while Politano and Elmas are among the substitutes.

The team sheets have been handed in, and the names upon them were these:

Napoli: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Maksimovic, Rui, Fabian, Demme, Zielinski, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne. Subs: Meret, Allan, Elmas, Luperto, Politano, Hysaj, Milik.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Nelson Semedo, Pique, Umtiti, Firpo, Busquets, Rakitic, de Jong, Vidal, Messi, Griezmann. Subs: Arthur, Neto, Lenglet, Puig, Fati, Araujo, Akieme.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany).

Hello world!

This is a massive week for Barcelona. Massive. Huge. First their Champions League hopes are on the line against Napoli, and then they visit Real Madrid in an explosive top-of-the-table La Liga megaclash on Sunday. Of course every fool knows that European glory is their absolute toppermost priority this and every season, but if there’s any domestic fixture that can’t be ignored it’s their next one, particularly with Barça protecting a wafer-thin two-point cushion at the top of the table. So, to summarise, we’ll take each game as it comes, yeah?

There’s not much you can learn from the teams’ head-to-head record, because they don’t have one: this is the very first Barça-Napoli encounter. And there’s very little to be gained from examining the managers’ Champions League pedigree, because they don’t have one: for both of them this is their debut in the competition. “It’s exciting for me to start this Champions League journey in a stadium like this with so much passion and history,” trilled Quique Setien. “There’s no better place to start.”

As for Napoli’s Gennaro Gattuso, he did play six times against Barcelona in the Champions League as a player, but there’s not much to be gleaned there either: he won two, drew two and lost two. “When I played against Barca it seemed that they were from another category because they didn’t let you see the ball,” he says. “We know therefore that we will face an opponent of a stratospheric level, and we know that the risks are big, but having said that I don’t want my players to be afraid. Respect for Barcelona is maximum, but I want a Napoli that is not afraid and that will play with their heads held high.”

If it’s half as fun as the last Italy v Spain encounter in the Champions League, namely Atalanta’s thrashing of a profligate Valencia last Wednesday, then we’re in for a treat. Here’s a confusing picture of the Stadio San Paolo, apparently taken with an Equirectangular Panorama. Welcome!