The Real Madrid captain, Sergio Ramos, performed another rescue act to wreck Napoli’s comeback and take the Champions League holders into the quarter-finals after they had taken a first-half battering. Real won 3-1 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate.
The hosts, trailing 3-1 from the first leg, looked capable of overturning the deficit and took the lead through Dries Mertens. But with Real wobbling, Ramos headed an equaliser early in the second half and produced another header six minutes later which deflected into the net off Mertens.
Alvaro Morata added the third goal in stoppage time against deflated opponents to send Real into their seventh successive Champions League quarter-final.
Backed by a fervent crowd, Napoli made a fast and furious start and peppered the Real goal with shots. They repeatedly carved open Real’s defence with quick, clever angled passing and superb running off the ball.
One such move produced their opening goal in the 24th minute when the inspirational Marek Hamsik laid a perfectly weighted first-time pass into the path of Mertens who lost his marker and placed his shot wide of Keylor Navas.
Real nearly snatched an equaliser against the run of play. Karim Benzema’s pass sent Cristiano Ronaldo sprinting between the Napoli defenders and past Pepe Reina but he fired his shot against the foot of the post. Napoli also hit the woodwork with a shot on the turn by Mertens.
The hosts failed to begin the second half with the same intensity and quickly paid the price after Hamsik uncharacteristically gave the ball away in midfield.
The move ended with Real winning a corner which Toni Kroos delivered perfectly for Ramos to head home and to silence the crowd in the 51st minute. Ramos struck again from another corner, although this time the ball took a deflection off Mertens.
Faced with a hopeless task, Napoli completely lost their momentum and Real coasted through the rest of the game, Morata snapping up a rebound for the third goal.
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