Gerard Pique says Barcelona’s emphatic 4-2 Europa League win over Napoli on Thursday, which saw them book their place in the round of 16, sent a message that the Catalan club are on their way back to the top.
Barca have struggled in Europe in recent years, winning just two of their last 11 knockout games away from Camp Nou. This season, they failed to make it out of their Champions League group, scoring just twice in six games as they dropped into the Europa League.
However, Pique, who was on target at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, is optimistic that Barca’s presence in Europe’s second-tier competition will only be fleeting.
“We have not been competing in Europe at the level a club like Barca should be,” he told reporters. “[But now] we have gone back to our origins, something we maybe had stopped doing recently. It’s a message for everyone, for us and for people on the outside, that little by little we’re on our way back. We’re on the right path.” (ESPN)