Gerard Pique has made a bold claim over Barcelona’s Europa League chances.
The Blaugrana’s hopes of progressing to the Round of 16 hang in the balance after a first leg draw with Napoli on Thursday night.
Barca dominated the first leg, but they couldn’t make their chances pay, and needed a Ferran Torres penalty to take a draw.
With no away goals, the result is far less damaging than it might have been in previous years.
But Barca still have a big task heading to Naples, needing to win, in one form or another, be it in normal time, extra time or penalties.
Still, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance against Napoli, with Barca looking the better team for almost all of the game.
And it’s those positives that veteran star Pique, is holding on to.
He told Sport: “The feeling is that we could have gone with a 3-1, 4-1 or 5-1 easily.
“We arrived and we had a lot, but they only had a couple (of chances).
“The feelings are good but the result not so much, and everything remains open for the return leg.”
Speaking about Barca’s Europa League chances on the whole, Pique added: “Playing like this, I believe that we can win the Europa League.
“If we play the same in the return leg, and we make the most of the chances, from there we can continue in a competition that gives us a lot of excitement.”
The Europa League is the only competition Barca are yet to win in their long and successful history.
Of course, even with that, they would prefer to be in the Champions League, but this is still a big opportunity to add a title to the club’s trophy haul.
