Real Madrid have booked their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after recording a 3-1 win over Napoli in the second leg of their last-16 tie in Naples on Tuesday night.
The reigning champions entered the match with a 3-1 lead from the first leg in Madrid, and a double from Sergio Ramos and a late Alvaro Morata finish helped Zinedine Zidane's side to ease into the next round with a 6-2 aggregate score.
Napoli's leading scorer this season Dries Mertens overcame an ankle problem to start for the hosts, and there were also spots in the XI for midfield pair Allan and Amadou Diawara as head coach Maurizio Sarri shuffled his pack.
As for Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale returned from injury and league suspension respectively to start alongside Karim Benzema in the final third, while Dani Carvajal, Marcelo and Toni Kroos also returned to the selection.
Napoli went after Real Madrid in the early moments and had a half-chance inside two minutes when Diawara fed Mertens on the edge of the away side's box, but his effort was just deflected over Keylor Navas's crossbar.
Indeed, the opening 10 minutes of the clash were played in Real Madrid's half of the field as Marek Hamsik, who fired a low effort wide of Navas's post early on, continued to pick passes in the final third, with Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne both willing runners for the Italians.
Insigne came close to finding the bottom corner with a driven effort in the 14th minute as Napoli continued to put the pressure on the European champions, but Navas was on hand to make a smart save, before Pepe Reina kept out a long-range Kroos effort down the other end of the field.
Reina was again called into action in the 18th minute to keep out an attempt from Bale, and it was at that point that Real Madrid just started to settle after Napoli flew out the traps in search of an early goal.
It was the home side that made the breakthrough on the night in the 24th minute, however, when Mertens smashed the ball into the bottom corner after a pass from Hamsik had released the Belgian inside the Real Madrid box.
Los Blancos should have levelled the scores five minutes later when Ronaldo rounded Reina inside the Napoli box following a swift counter-attack, but the number seven somehow struck the post in front of an open goal.
Kalidou Koulibaly had a chance to send Napoli 2-0 ahead 10 minutes before the break when he rose unchallenged inside the Real Madrid box, but the centre-back's header was over the crossbar.
It was then Napoli's turn to strike the woodwork as Mertens fired against the post after freeing himself inside the Real Madrid box following more lacklustre defending from the Spanish giants.
Real Madrid had a half-chance to level the scores early in the second period when Benzema worked some space inside the Napoli box, but the French striker's effort was always wide of Reina's near post.
The visitors were more progressive and more threatening in the final third, however, and found an equaliser in the 52nd minute when Ramos rose highest inside the Napoli box to head an in-swinging Kroos corner into the back of the net.
Napoli boss Sarri looked to his bench for the first time in the 56th minute as Marko Rog replaced Allan, but the tie was effectively over one minute later when Ramos headed another Kroos corner into the back of the net to send Real Madrid 5-2 ahead on aggregate.
Rog tried his luck from distance in the 65th minute as Napoli desperately tried to respond, but the midfielder's effort was always too high as Real Madrid closed on a spot in the quarter-finals once again.
Arkadiusz Milik was next off the Napoli bench 20 minutes from time, but the striker found it difficult to make his mark during a period where Real Madrid had locked down their defence and adopted a purely counter-attacking approach.
Ronaldo might have scored a third for the visitors in the 73rd minute after breaking into the Napoli box and rounding Reina, but the former Liverpool goalkeeper did well to press the Portuguese into a wide position and the chance evaporated.
Isco and Morata followed Lucas Vazquez onto the pitch as Zidane looked to his bench in the latter stages, and in truth, chances were few and far between during a stage where both managers were already looking ahead to the next match.
Rog hit another one from distance five minutes from time as Napoli looked for a second, while Real Madrid came close down the other end as Carvajal just missed the crossbar from inside the box.
Space continued to open for Zidane's side on the counter-attack, and the 11-time European Cup winners rounded off the match in style when Morata swept the ball into an empty net in the 91st minute after Reina had denied Ronaldo.
Matt Law
