Champions League: Napoli coach and fans bemoan rejection of Osimhen's penalty appeals against Barca.

Napoli fans were furious after Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen was denied a penalty in the Champions League Round of 16 against Barcelona when Pau Cubarsi appeared to tread on his foot.

The incident occurred when the score was 2-1 on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate, so a spot-kick could’ve leveled the tie.

Osimhen ran into the box and went down when Cubarsi seemed to mistime the challenge and tread on the Nigeria international’s toes.

The referee waved play on and VAR very quickly agreed, without taking very long reviewing the available footage.

Napoli coach Francesco Calzona ‘cannot understand why the VAR would not intervene’ on a ‘clear penalty’, but admits they made it easier for Barcelona with errors.

It was a night of regrets at the Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic, as defensive errors allowed Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo to surge into a 2-0 lead with two goals in 120 seconds.

Amir Rrahmani managed to get the Partenopei back into it, and Jesper Lindstrom missed a huge opportunity to equalize with a free header wide, followed moments later by Robert Lewandowski tapping in for 3-1.

“There is disappointment because we came here trying to win the game. We had a very bad start, lost the ball an infinite number of times and you will pay when you allow so many counter-attacks to a side like this,” Calzona told Sport Mediaset.

“It was very different in the first leg, I had only got there the day before and it was difficult to organise something. Barcelona is a strong team, but we gave the ball away too cheaply and once we managed to fix a few of those issues, we were already 2-0 down.

“We were too spread out and too slow to react when losing the ball. The only excuse is that we did not have much time to work on these things in training, but it’s true that every time we lost the ball, we were also wide and allowed Barcelona dangerous counter-attacks.”

Mathias Olivera also hit the woodwork late on, while Osimhen had penalty appeals rejected when Cubarsi seemed to tread on his foot.

“Looking at the footage, it does seem to be a penalty. I cannot understand why the VAR at these levels would not intervene in a situation like that. They should take all the time necessary to come to the right decision. It looks like a clear penalty and that could’ve changed the course of the game.

“I always talk about preventative marking when you are in possession and we did not do that well this evening, as we were too spread out and I didn’t like that.

“We also had chances to equalise, but by changing the system late on, we lost our shape. This is a team that struggles when changing systems and needs certainty. It’s frustrating that we do not have the time to work on different approaches in training.”

Calzona was surprised by replacing the impressive Politano with Lindstrom, so why did he make that choice?

“I substituted Politano because he was tired. I have quality players on the bench and wanted to keep Barcelona under pressure in their half. There was a period where they were suffering and I needed fresh legs to press them.

“Matteo had a very good game this evening, that was the only reason.”

This was the first defeat for Calzona on the Napoli bench after two wins and three draws in all competitions and the odds of qualifying for this tournament again next season are extremely unlikely.

They are already out of the Club World Cup, as this elimination sends Juventus into the FIFA tournament along with Inter.