The Merengues remain on track to repeat as UEFA League champs, going unbeaten and taking 12 out of 18 possible points in the group stage. But the draw at home to Dortmund resulted to Real finishing second, setting up this relatively favorable matchup with Group B top finisher—Napoli.
Real should win this one with ease. It’s hard to stop them from finding the net, especially with a guy named Cristiano Ronaldo on their side. His form has been hot lately, striking three goals in the last three matches and nine in his past nine.
Plus, beating Ronaldo and co. at their own turf is already challenging enough. Real has won all 11 home games in La Liga this season, emerging victorious nine times during that stretch. They’ve also won 22 of 31 matches against Italian foes and 32 of their last 35 games in all competitions.
Napoli doesn’t have the personnel to keep Real, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, from scoring but they do have the weapons to keep in step with the defending champions.
There’s Dries Mertens, Jose Callejon, Arkadiusz Milik, Lorenzo Insigne and Mark Hamsik, who should all be looking forward to take on a Real defense that gave up 10 goals in the group stage and zero clean sheets.
Mertens, in particular, has six Serie A goals to his name, putting him only five goals away from tying his career-best total in a league season. He also has three hat tricks on the season.
Meanwhile, Hamsik has amassed 109 career goals for Napoli, which is just six behind the team’s all-time scoring leader Diego Maradona.
This, however, is only Napoli’s second appearance in the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League. They have never reached the quarterfinals in franchise history.
