Madrid: Casemiro’s stunning volley crowned a superb display from Real Madrid, who fought back to beat Napoli 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie here, Wednesday. It was the Italian side’s first loss after 18 games.
The Brazilian midfielder thundered a spectacular right-foot shot into the net early in the second half to complete Madrid’s comeback, adding to efforts either side of half time from Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos.
Napoli, the top scorers in Serie A, grabbed an early goal when Lorenzo Insigne spotted keeper Keylor Navas out of position to curl the ball home from distance, but when Real Madrid clicked into gear they created chances at will.
The defending champions, who are chasing a 12th European title and eying a seventh straight quarterfinal appearance, will travel to Naples for the return leg March 7.
“We’ll go there to a difficult ground where we’ll suffer and it’s still an open game,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane told reporters. “But then we have a 3-1 advantage and we should finish it off there.”
The hosts were at the throats of their opponents within moments of the kick-off as Benzema forced a reflex save from Pepe Reina with barely 20 seconds on the clock.
At that point it looked like it could be a long evening for Napoli, but the Italians were in no mood to lie down and took the lead to cap a frenetic opening after eight minutes.
Insigne was fed through by Marek Hamsik and he spotted Navas out off the line. Quick as a flash and with two defenders closing in, he bent a shot into the corner from 35 metres.
The lead lasted 10 minutes as Madrid drew level when Dani Carvajal’s arrowed cross was headed powerfully into the net by Benzema, his 51st Champions League goal, lifting him into fifth on the all-time scorers list.
The remainder of the half was spent mainly in Napoli territory as Real Madrid continued to press, with Cristiano Ronaldo blasting over after being set free by Luka Modric and Benzema clipping the outside of the post when through on goal.
Their dominance, however, was rewarded four minutes after the restart as Ronaldo skipped to the byline and pulled it back for Kroos on the edge of the box to side-foot the ball calmly past Reina. Four minutes later Casemiro took the game, and perhaps the tie, away from Napoli with a stunning right-foot volley from 25 metres that left Reina flailing.
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