Real Madrid dispatch Liverpool; Napoli roll over Eintracht

Sports Desk, Mar 15 (EFE).- Neither of Wednesday’s Champions League round-of-16 second legs produced any surprises, as Real Madrid topped Liverpool 1-0 to win 6-2 on aggregate and Napoli dominated Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 for a 5-0 triumph.

While the Blancos are in pursuit of a record-extending 15th Champions League title, this will be Napoli’s first appearance in the quarterfinals of Europe’s elite club competition.

Real Madrid started the match at the Santiago Bernabeu with their passage to the quarterfinals all but assured after their stunning 5-2 comeback victory in the first leg at Anfield.

Even so, the hosts looked to add to their edge and the Reds avoided embarrassment thanks to the heroics of Alisson, whose seven stops included one against Vinicius Jr. from close range.

Liverpool showed plenty of ambition, but Thibaut Courtois dealt with dangerous strikes from Darwin Nuñez and Cody Gakpo in a contest where Mohamed Salah struggled to make an impact.

The visitors managed to keep a clean sheet until the 78th minute, when Karim Benzema scored into an empty net with an assist from Vini.

Napoli were likewise in the driver’s seat after blanking Eintracht 2-0 in the first leg in Frankfurt and the German side, despite needing goals, had little of the ball and created few chances.

Eintracht were just seconds away from getting out of the first half without conceding any more goals when Napoli’s Victor Osimhen beat keeper Kevin Trapp with a thundering header.

The Nigerian striker stretched the lead to 2-0 (4-0) in the 53rd minute and Piotr Zielinski made it 3-0 (4-0) in the 64th, converting from the spot after drawing a foul from Djibril Sow. EFE rm-tfc/dr