Benzemá, a “Real” figure
Real Madrid and Napoli qualified yesterday for the quarterfinals of the Champions League and were among the eight best teams in the popular and highest European competition at club level.
Madrid, the top winner of the Champions League with 14 titles, defeated Liverpool 1-0, with a goal from Karim Benzema, and closed the series 6-2 in their favor at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Napoli, with the entry of striker Giovanni Simeone with ten minutes to go, beat Frankfurt 3-0 with two goals from Nigerian Victor Osimhen and the remaining one from Poland’s Piotr Zielinski, from a penalty, at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples.
The Italian league leader, who had the lead in the series due to the 2-0 win in Germany, completed a historic event with his first pass to the Champions League quarterfinals.
Liverpool tried to reverse the series, but Madrid did not give rise to that illusion. The team led by the German Jürgen Klopp could not convert the few situations that he had at the feet of the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah during the first stage, and in the second half they lacked ideas.
Real Madrid, with the power of their individualities, put the visit in trouble with the appearances of the Brazilian Vincius Jr. and the Croatian Luka Modric, while the Frenchman Eduardo Camavinga was one of the most prominent in the team led by the Italian Carlo Ancelotti.
For its part, Napoli had Osimhen as a great figure. The Nigerian signed two goals for a win without problems.
Osimhen ratified his good moment with the tenth goal in his last 10 games with Napoli.
The draw for the quarterfinals will take place this Friday, in Switzerland. The first legs of the quarterfinals will take place between Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 April, and the second legs between 18 and 19 April. The semifinals will be on May 9/10 and May 16/17, and the final on Saturday June 10.
