Napoli close to Champions League upset before harsh reality check

Date: 8th March 2017 at 4:09pm
Written by:

Trailing 3-1 on aggregate after the first leg, the Partenopei performed magnificently early in the second leg before two Merengues corners sent their world crashing down

One moment. One chance. One miss. It seemed that Napoli had the opportunity to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League but it was not meant to be.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Allan’s deflected pass fell onto the path of Belgian forward Dries Mertens, who could have scored his second goal of the match. It would have meant that the Partenopei would knock-out Real Madrid on the away goals but his shot hit the post and the ball went out of play.

Unfortunately, Los Merengues came out to play in the second half and they ended up winning 3-1 on Tuesday evening as well as progressing to the quarter-finals 6-2 on aggregate. Although Los Blancos won both legs by two goals, the second leg in particular was not as easy as the scoreline would suggest.

It was a scintillating display of football from Napoli in the first half, forcing Real Madrid to defend and rely on counter-attacks to create scoring opportunities. The Neapolitans played at a high tempo and intensity and displayed hallmarks of Maurizio Sarri’s coaching style such as pressing, keeping compact in shape, and making short passes in tight areas.

The likes of Marek Hamsik and Lorenzo Insigne had chances to score but it was Mertens who opened the scoring after 24 minutes. It came from an exchange of vertical and diagonal passes from the Partenopei midfield and no more than two touches were taken. The incisive passing before the Belgian international struck with a diagonal shot was the epitome of Sarri’s philosophy.

Although Cristiano Ronaldo hit the post soon after, Napoli still had the ascendancy. Even though Mertens had that glorious chance to make it 3-3 on aggregate, Hamsik had the chance to score on counter-attack but he shot wide from distance when perhaps he could have dribbled for longer.

Sadly for the Neapolitan faithful, their chances of qualification to the quarter-finals dissipated after half-time due to poor defending at corners. Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos demonstrated his prowess at dead-ball situations by heading in his team’s first goal and then minutes later he provoked Mertens into scoring an own goal.

Further salt was rubbed into Napoli’s wounds when former Juventus striker Alvaro Morata came off the bench and scored Los Blancos’ third and final goal for the match. The Neapolitans were close to performing a miracle but they ended-up being blown apart.

For the second season in a row the Ciucciarelli were eliminated just one stage after the group phase of a European competition. In 2015-16 they reached the Round of 32 of the Europa League and were knocked-out by Spanish side Villarreal whereas this season they topped their Champions League group but were eliminated by the strongest team in Spain and Europe.

Sarri’s team play some of the best football on the Italian peninsula but it has not been producing results in Europe. There has also been media speculation that the coach could leave Napoli at the end of the season.

Improvements will be required at the end of the season but it remains to be seen if the Neapolitans will invest more money on players or if Sarri will be coaching the side in 2017-18.

 

Comments are closed.