Zinedine Zidane refuses to criticise his players after their slow start against Napoli in the Champions League
Real Madrid built on their 3-1 advantage over Napoli from the first leg, and beat the Italian side by the same scoreline when the sides squared off in the return leg in Naples. Despite going down through an early first-half goal, Los Blancos clawed their way back to secure their berth in the final eight.
Napoli began the game as the stronger of the two sides and were duly rewarded for their exploits when Dries Mertens opened the scoring. The Belgian striker was looking sharp since the outset, and game the home fans a glimmer of hope with his strike.
The Partenopei went into half-time with their heads held high, and hoped for more of the same in the second half. Manager Maurizio Sarri would have been a delighted man, but little did he know how quickly things change in the game of football.
Real came out all guns blazing in the second period, looking to finish things off in a blaze. Defender Sergio Ramos scored a crucial goal in the 51st minute from a Toni Kroos ball to equalise on the night and give his team a 4-2 aggregate lead.
It looked like he scored another six minutes later, but the goal was credited to Mertens and went down as an own goal for him. This completely deflated the Naples outfit, and their tempo dropped a notch ever since.
Smooth sailings for Real from then on in along with a late goal from Alvaro Morata saw them win 3-1 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate.
In the post-match press conference, Zidane was puzzled about his side’s slow start. He responded that it did not matter and also that he always believed in his players to come away with the right result.
“I don’t agree at all,” the Real coach said when asked about the performances of his forwards. “In the first half, none of us played well.”
He continued to state that his side were not lucky and fought very hard for the win. He was quoted as saying:
“I don’t think we were lucky. Good luck doesn’t exist in football. But we obviously have to do better. We knew the start here against Napoli would be hard, it’s a hard stadium to play at.
“We suffered a lot in the opening half, we didn’t get to play the way we had planned. In the second half we did a lot better, and I’m happy with the win.”
Real’s Spanish rivals Barcelona take on PSG in the Champions League tonight hoping to overcome a 4-0 deficit. It will be a meteoric task, given the resillience the Parisiens put up in the first leg.
