Real Madrid vs. Napoli, 2016 Champions League draw: Champions dodge a bullet, but a tough tie awaits

Zinedine’s Zidane’s men reward for finishing second in their group is a tie against Napoli. Importantly, however, as runners-up they’ll have to play the second leg away, which means that they’ll either have to take care of business in the first leg in Spain, or they’ll need to get a result in the intimidating surroundings of Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo.

The defending Champions League winners are not completely happy with the fact that they failed to win their group, though that took an inspiring performance from Borussia Dortmund in a jaw-droppingly good match to keep them from reaching the top spot. They’re still in full control in La Liga, however, and still stand as arguably the best and most talented team in Europe; they just didn’t quite get the job done in the group.

How they got here: That’s not to say that they were poor in group play by any means — their second-place standing came down to tiebreakers, thanks to the wildly impressive display of Borussia Dortmund. Real Madrid still represent a massive threat to their opponents, though, with a deep and varied squad with plenty of star power at the top of it.

Key player: While many will focus on the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale or Sergio Ramos, it’s the steady quality of Toni Kroos in midfield that does a lot to make this team work at its best. His creativity, instincts, and deeply underrated defensive skills do a lot to make everyone around him better. Hr deserves a lot more praise than he generally receives.

Napoli have had a bit of a rough season so far, but seem to be turning it around of late. A red-hot start was brought to an abrupt halt when key striker Arkadiusz Milik suffered a serious knee injury, and for nearly two months the Italian team looked like a shell of what they were. They struggled badly in the final third and looked wildly out of balance in every other area of the pitch, but in recent weeks they seem to finally be finding their footing again.

How they got here: To get this far, Napoli had to win Group B on the last matchday, beating Benfica in dramatic fashion for the second time in the group stage. Their two-month lull in form saw them fall from the unquestioned best team in the group to being at risk of getting dumped to the Europa League, but an emphatic win against Benfica in Portugal saw them finish in first place.

Key player: A big part of that was the performance of captain and key midfielder Marek Hamsik, who starred in that game and constantly did everything in his power to pull his team back to the level of quality and ability they were capable of. With Hamsik’s drive and Milik a possibility to return by the time the Round of 16 begins, Napoli could be an understated threat.

It’s hard to look beyond the Spanish side here. While they may have just been pipped to group primacy by Borussia Dortmund, they’re currently on a 35-game unbeaten run, and Zinedine Zidane appears to have found the right balance for the players at his disposal. Plus, there’s always Ronaldo. It shouldn’t be a walkover, but we’re expecting the champions to go through.