3 things we learned as Real Madrid came back to beat Napoli, 3-1

A fantastic start from Napoli wasn’t enough to overcome Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, with the defending champions coming back with three goals to down their Italian foes. Two of those goals came just minutes into the second half, but the overall performance of both teams was excellent, setting up a huge and important second leg back in Italy.

We didn’t have to wait long for the first goal of the match, and what a goal it was. Just eight minutes in, Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik pushed the ball up past the midfield line, looking for Lorenzo Insigne between Real Madrid’s central defenders. Insigne looked like he was going to pick the ball up and run at goal with it, but instead shot it first-time, having caught Keylor Navas drifting out of goal. Insigne curled it just inside the far post from some 35 yards out, an incredible goal that fully fit the occasion.

Real Madrid were understandably upset about going down early and pushed hard for a goal of their own, and despite some miscues in front of goal, they finally got one 18 minutes into the game when Dani Carvajal found Karim Benzema waiting patiently in front of goal for the ball. That was a key equalizer for Real Madrid to help stop the bleeding, leading to a slugfest for the rest of the first half. Real would have the better scoring chances, but made a mess of most of them, and the halftime score stayed put at 1-1.

That would change very quickly into the second half, though, with Real Madrid scoring twice in the opening spell of the half thanks to terrific finishes from Toni Kroos and Casemiro, and an equally excellent assist from Cristiano Ronaldo on Kroos’ goal. That double-strike took a lot of wind out of Napoli’s sails, though once they managed to get their feet under themselves they started to look a lot more like the side that made things nervy for Real in the first half again.

Napoli actually had the chance to level the match at 3-3, but an agonizing miss from Dries Mertens and a mistimed run from Jose Callejon kept them from scoring a pair of excellent goals during the second half. Even a desperation change from Napoli, taking captain and key midfield playmaker Hamsik off for striker Arkadiusz Milik, couldn’t get them another goal, sinking them to a 3-1 defeat.

Still, Napoli performed well as a whole and aren’t in a terrible position heading back to the Stadio San Paolo for the second leg in a few weeks. They have a lot of work to do, to be sure, but there’s still a chance thanks to their away goal — just as long as Napoli can figure out how to contain Real Madrid a bit better back in Italy, at least.

Real Madrid: Keylor Navas; Dani Carvajal, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos (Pepe 71’), Marcelo; Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Casemiro; Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema (Alvaro Morata 82’), James Rodriguez (Lucas Vazquez 76’)

Goals: Benzema (18’), Kroos (49’), Casemiro (54’)

Napoli: Pepe Reina; Elseid Hysaj, Raul Albiol, Kalidou Koulibaly, Faouzi Ghoulam; Piotr Zielinski (Allan 75’), Amadou Diawara, Marek Hamsik (Arkadiusz Milik 83’); Jose Callejon, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne

Goals: Insigne (8’)

Despite having a relatively inexperienced manager and a squad not used to playing in matches of this degree of importance or pressure, Napoli didn’t seem to be one bit overawed, starstruck, or any other cliche that translates to “unprepared for the match.”

Just look at how they came out at the first whistle: playing aggressively and confidently, looking to execute their gameplan no matter what Real Madrid did. It showed up again when they opened the scoring, with Marek Hamsik and Lorenzo Insigne connecting for a goal like they’ve probably scored dozens of times in training.

It wasn’t even so much that they were ready for Real Madrid, it was almost as though Napoli didn’t care that they were playing Real Madrid. They approached this like any other game, and that was the exact right answer for them in this match. Even after they went down early in the second half, Napoli didn’t panic — they kept on like they always do and still stayed very much in the game.

As confident as Napoli were, they weren’t perfect. Far from it, in fact. Real Madrid recognized that, identified their opponents’ weaknesses, and set themselves up to exploit those weaknesses in the second half. The result? Two goals in the first 10 minutes of the half to blow the match wide open.

Now, one of those goals was somewhat lucky — Casemiro’s goal was ridiculous — but both were the result of those halftime adjustments. Madrid recognized that Napoli were having issues with wide attackers cutting in, and Cristiano Ronaldo used that to his advantage, taking the previously impressive Kalidou Koulibaly to the touchline and turning him inside-out before slipping a perfect assist in to Toni Kroos. Casemiro’s goal came from utilizing a bubble of space Napoli were consistently leaving in front of the defense, but even then it required an absurd finish for him to score.

It was an excellent response from Real Madrid, who were threatening to let frustration undo them towards the end of the first half. Instead, they went out and won the game in the opening spell of the second half, and put themselves into an excellent position for the second leg.

Once Napoli got into a position where they needed to play catch-up in this match, Maurizio Sarri simply didn’t have the tools on his bench to do it. Having started two of his more attacking midfield options in Amadou Diawara and Piotr Zielinski, he could only bring on the much more defensive Allan in Zielinski’s place. Even in the final third Sarri lacked options — Arkadiusz Milik is only just coming back from a major knee injury, Leonardo Pavoletti was left out as hasn’t integrated into the side well yet after joining a month ago, and Emanuele Giaccherini’s game-changing days are long behind him.

Napoli are deeper than they were even a year ago, and certainly much deeper than they last time they got into this round in 2012, but they’re not quite there yet as a complete team at this level. They’re getting closer, though, and they certainly proved that they can hang with almost anyone in this match. They just lack that extra little bit of quality to get over the hump.