Casemiro volleyed from 30 meters, Real put one foot in the quarter-finals

Midfielder Casemiro scored a superb goal to help Real beat Napoli 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16.

Goals: Benzema 19', Kroos 49', Casemiro 54' - Insigne 8'

The midfielder wearing the number 14 shirt shone when he volleyed from about 30 meters away, towards the right wing of Real's attack. After this shot, the ball followed a rainbow shape and had such a fast speed that goalkeeper Pepe Reina could only watch helplessly.

Casemiro scored a memorable goal against Napoli. Photo: Reuters

Before Casemiro scored, Real had already come back to lead Napoli 2-1. Dani Carvajal flicked the ball with the outside of his foot for Benzema to head home the equalizer, while Ronaldo passed the ball to Kroos who ran up and scored the next goal.

Napoli only caused surprises in the early stages of the match. In the eighth minute, exploiting goalkeeper Keylor Navas's misstep, Lorenzo Insigne curled the ball from about 30 meters to open the score. This goal made many Real fans uneasy, until Benzema equalized.

Insigne celebrates after opening the score.

Napoli also had a number of other good chances but failed to convert them into goals. The most notable of these was Mertens' 68th-minute shot from just 10 metres away, which went just over Real's crossbar.

The defending champions also had many chances to increase the score to 4-1 but failed. In a rare start for Real, James Rodriguez caused regret when he shot into the path of goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Marcelo also disappointed the audience when he shot diagonally wide of the goal from close range.

Real won by a small margin, perhaps because Ronaldo was not in the form he wanted. Apart from the pass to Kroos, CR7 did not have any situations that made Pepe Reina work. Ronaldo's two unmarked shots both went wide of the goal.

Kroos placed a tricky shot to score after Ronaldo's pass.

With a 3-1 win in the first leg, Real now have a huge advantage to reach the quarter-finals. In the return leg in Italy, the defending champions can lose by a single goal and still qualify.

Meanwhile, a goal at the Bernabeu is a hope for Napoli to try harder. If they win 2-0 in the second leg, the Italian team will enter the quarter-finals according to the away goals rule.

According to VNE