Napoli's Llorente: 'We showed Barca too much respect'

The veteran striker reckons his team could have done more damage against the Catalans.

Barcelona dominated possession but had little to no shots.

Napoli will try to 'give Barca a scare' in the second leg, Llorente promises.

Napoli's striker Fernando Llorente, who missed the game against Barcelona with the flu, shared his impression from the 1-1 draw in an interview with Radio Marca.

According to the veteran forward, his team could have done more against the Catalans.

"These are big nights that we all would like to enjoy from the inside, but I had to see it from the outside and I believe Napoli did very well," Llorente said as cited by Mundo Deportivo.

"We went in the lead with a great goal from Mertens and then we had too much respect for Barca. We could have done even more damage," he argued. "We will go to Barcelona to give them a scare."

The Catalans dominated possession but to no avail – they only managed eight shots in 90 minutes.

"Barca dominated because Naples let them dominate, they did not put suffocating pressure on us. The Catalans dominated but didn't cause any damage. In the second half, we got confused and they scored a goal, but they didn't create too much apart from that."

Barca will play the second-leg fixture against Napoli without two key players, Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal. Sergio picked up too many yellow cards while the Chilean was sent off in the second half against the Azzurri.

Apart from these players, Luis Suarez, Ousmane Dembele, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto are yet unavailable for Barca. However, Quique Setien has assured that both Alba and Roberto will be fit for the return leg against Napoli on March 18.

As for the game itself, after Dries Mertens scored for Napoli in the first half, Antoine Griezmann was the only Barca player to respond after the break. The Frenchman produced an accurate finish into the right upper corner after Nelson Semedo's pass in the box.