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Europe Take Note, Barcelona is Back

The Europa League saw a very interesting knockout stage in play this week as German giants and Eerling Haaland’s club, Borussia Dortmund lost out to the Scottish Rangers on an aggregate score of 6-4.

Spanish sides like Sevilla and Real Betiz also made it to the Round of 16 beating their respective opponents by a goal.

However the headlines only saw one team’s name. FC Barcelona, and more importantly, Xavi’s FC Barcelona. La Blaugrana dominated Napoli in the Diego Maradona Stadium in Italy. The sheer pace and aggressive attacks by Barcelona were just too much for Napoli to handle.

As Napoli exited the tournament, Insigne also exited Europe as he heads over to the MLS in America to play for Toronto next season. 

Getting an early goal at just 8 minutes, Barcelona legend Jordi Alba started the proceedings for the visitors. The dominance continued with Frankie de Jong getting the second goal just 5 minutes later. With the likes of Traore and Pedri playing massive roles in getting the ball forward, Barcelona looked unbeatable. Alas, in a rare mistake and challenge by Ter Stegen, Insigne received a penalty kick which he completely capitalized on and brought back hope to the Italian fans. 

That hope however didn’t last long as Barcelona kept attempting and had a huge 8 shots on goal by just the 20th minute of the game. The fast paced game saw a massive goal by another player draped in Barcelona legend, Gerard Pique. 

With Barcelona up 3-1 in the match and 4-2 on aggregate by half time, all they had to do was keep up the pace. Pierre Emerick had a hard time in the first half as missed opportunity after opportunity, but in the second half, he finally opened his European goal scoring tally for Barcelona as he drilled one in the Napoli net. 

Napoli did manage to get another goal back, however it was too late and Barcelona were just too good. Now Barcelona await the draw to see which one of the seeded teams they will face out of Leverkusen, Monaco, West Ham, Moskva, Frankfurt, Zvezda, Galatasaray or Lyon.

Erling Haaland Leaving Borussia Dortmund?

The young football sensation Erling Haaland’s future has been a point of conversation since the 2021 summer transfer window. Now with the January transfer window open and big moves happening all around the world, it looks like Borussia Dortmund have been nagging Haaland to decide his future.

The striker hinted at leaving the yellows this season for better pastures but his destination was still unknown. He has mentioned earlier that he would rather go to the La Liga than the Premier League if given the choice and Spanish club presidents like Barcelona’s Laporta have come out and said they would like to sign Haaland in the coming summer.

However, he remains at Borussia right now with a contract extending till 2024. The biggest factor is the release clause set at €75 Million. Clubs like City, Munich, Chelsea and more have shown interest in paying the 75 Million to get Haaland out of his contract and into their clubs.

“The last six months, I have chosen not to say anything out of respect for Dortmund,” Haaland told Viaplay. “But now the club has started to pressure me into making a decision, but all I want to do is to play football. But they press me to make a decision now about my future. So that means I have to make a decision soon. I have said from the beginning that I want to focus on football, because that is when I am at my best, not when other things come into my mind.”

“Now they have put pressure for a while. So it is time to get things started. All I want to do is to play football, but I can’t do that now.”

Haaland who scored 78 goals in his first 77 appearances in all competitions for Borussia will be a major player to look out for this transfer season.