Barcelona seemed destined to dominate Napoli for the entire tie. The Blaugrana side had control for most of the first half of the game and it seemed like a matter of time before they scored their first goal. Everything went as planned...but along came Junior Firpo.
The left back failed to control the ball right around the 30th-minute mark, with Piotr Zielinski stealing it away from him in a heartbeat. Zielinski found Dries Mertens wide open, and the Belgian took his chance to score a massive goal for the Italian side.
Napoli converted with their first shot on goal, and took the lead despite watching the ball go back and forth for most of the first 45 minutes.
Have a look at Mertens' golazo (Image might be geo-restricted).
¡Gool de @sscnapoli!
— TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) February 25, 2020
¡Gool de @sscnapoli!
¡Gool de @sscnapoli!
Golazo de Dries Mertens, la puso a segundo poste, imposible para Ter Stegen#UCL | #NapoliBarça | #ChampionsLeague
EN VIVO https://t.co/bYnWOAwg9O pic.twitter.com/9IDtqzPOOm
If such a massive goal was not enough cause for celebration, Mertens celebrated one heck of a milestone with this impressive finish.
121 - Dries Mertens' opener against Barcelona was his 121st goal for Napoli in all competitions, moving him level with Marek Hamsik as the joint-top scorer in the club's history. Landmark. pic.twitter.com/lYwcYoSful
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 25, 2020