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[av_heading heading=’ Real beats Napoli to reach Champs League quarters’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
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Sergio Ramos (rightmost) of Real Madrid celebrates after firing against Napoli during their UEFA Champions League match on Tuesday. REUTERS
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NAPLES – Two quick-fire goals saw Real Madrid survive an early scare to win 3-1 at Napoli on Tuesday and reach the Champions League quarterfinals for a seventh successive time.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, Dries Mertens gave Napoli hope with a 24th-minute strike to send a packed San Paolo stadium into raptures. But Madrid captain Sergio Ramos headed in a Toni Kroos corner early in the second half and had another header deflected in by Mertens six minutes later to effectively end the contest.
Alvaro Morata wrapped up the 6-2 victory on aggregate for the holders by tapping in a rebound in stoppage time after Pepe Reina had denied Cristiano Ronaldo.
”We really suffered a lot in the first half, we couldn’t do what we wanted to do, they were pressing us very high,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. ”Then we made changes in the second half and we were much better. It was completely different. We are happy.”
Sergio Ramos acknowledged that Madrid has a lot of work to do if it is to become the first side to successfully defend its Champions League title.
”I’m happy that I scored in a critical moment of the match, when we were suffering. But above all it was as a team that we got through,” Ramos said. ”We need to reflect now on things, they dominated for nearly the entire first half. We really suffered. We’ll take time now to think about things calmly.” (AP)
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