The Madrid match lived up to its expectations. Zidane started with three midfielders, aware that Napoli prefers to control the ball, aiming for balance
Guests took a lead early on, Real lost the ball and after two quick passes Insigne surprised a truly poorly positioned goalie, Jutarnji List wrote on February 15, 2017.
Napoli then took the ball forward well, in typical Italian style with quick transition and many touches. When they play without a classic forward they create a surplus in mid field and thus created plenty of problems for Real.
However, they are very thin on defence, cannot defend when burdened with offensive game or pressured by the opponent.
With the equalizer the situation was easily defendable, but Klulibaly made a mistake and left Albioli alone with Ronaldo and Benzema. In the second half Modrić and Kroos pushed their game closer to the Napoli goal, found easier ways to 20 metres to goal, made large problems for the opponent’s defence, enabling the second and third goals. Real is a much better team than Napoli, showing also a large difference between the Spanish and Italian championships. Modrić played well, lots of running, right midfielder position gives him more opportunities to close in on the goal. Carvajal may have been the best, as Insigne plays very bad defence.
Bayern also showed that, along with Real, they are a favourite to go all the way. Bavarians are increasing the form of their best players, already securing the next stage. Arsenal has significant problems in defence, but it wasn’t expected they would lose so convincingly.
