Napoli and Barcelona joined the chorus of protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday by holding up a banner with the message "stop war" before their Europa League clash.

Russia launched a war against its eastern European neighbour on Thursday, drawing outrage from the international community and sparking demonstrations at home as dozens were killed.

The two teams lined up at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona ahead of the match and held up a banner which was wildly applauded by the roughly 40,000 fans present.

The two sides are locked at 1-1 in their play-off tie, with the winners advancing to the last 16 which is played on March 10 and 17.