Napoli eager to end Real Madrid reign

SSC Napoli welcome Real Madrid CF to the Stadio San Paolo for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie needing to retrieve a first-leg deficit.

• Beaten 3-1 in Madrid in the first leg – when Lorenzo Insigne's early goal was overturned by Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Casemiro – Napoli must achieve something they have rarely managed in UEFA competition: turn round an away defeat.

• Napoli qualified as winners of Group B, while Madrid finished runners-up to Borussia Dortmund in Group F.

• This is a tie which pits two former Madrid players – Napoli's Raúl Albiol and José Callejón – against their old club.

Previous meetings
• Leo Beenhakker's Madrid overcame Napoli 3-1 on aggregate in the sides' only past encounter, in the first round of the 1987/88 European Champion Clubs' Cup.

• Madrid won the first leg 2-0 through goals from Míchel (penalty) and Miguel Tendillo, before earning a 1-1 draw at the Stadio San Paolo, where Emilio Butragueño – today a club director – cancelled out Giovanni Francini's opening goal for a Napoli side coached by Ottavio Bianchi and captained by Diego Maradona.

Match background

Napoli
• This is only Napoli's second appearance in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League and they are seeking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. They lost to Chelsea FC at this stage in 2011/12, letting slip a 3-1 home first-leg win with a 4-1 extra-time defeat in London.

• Napoli's 3-2 loss to Beşiktaş JK in the group stage is their only defeat in their last 20 European home fixtures (W13 D6).

• Napoli have lost their last two two-legged ties against Spanish opposition. They fell 2-1 to Villarreal CF in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 and 4-2 to Athletic Club in a 2014/15 UEFA Champions League play-off – and both times drew the home leg 1-1.

• Marek Hamšík, who scored the second goal, and Christian Maggio are the only survivors of Napoli's last victory over Liga opponents – 2-0 at Villarreal in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Napoli's overall home record against Spanish visitors is W2 D4 L0.

• Napoli have won only three of the 11 UEFA ties in which they lost the away first leg – although two of those successes came after retrieving a two-goal deficit from the first game. In the 1962/63 European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round, they were beaten 2-0 at Bangor City FC but won 3-1 at home and came through the replay 2-1; against Juventus in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup quarter-finals they went down 2-0 away but won 3-0 at home.

• Napoli's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
3-4 v Toulouse FC, 1986/87 UEFA Cup first round
3-5 v FC Spartak Moskva, 1990/91 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round
4-3 v Sporting Clube de Portugal, 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round

Real Madrid
• Unbeaten in the group stage, Madrid are looking to reach the quarter-finals for the seventh successive year – and have their sights set on becoming the first team to retain the trophy in the UEFA Champions League era.

• Madrid have lost just one of their last nine away fixtures in the UEFA Champions League. In this season's group stage they drew at Dortmund (2-2) and Legia Warszawa (3-3) and beat Sporting Clube de Portugal (2-1).

• Although Madrid eliminated AS Roma (2-0 a, 2-0 h) at this stage of the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League, they had previously lost eight consecutive two-legged knockout ties against Italian opposition, including a semi-final against Juventus in 2014/15.

• That victory at Roma was their first success in nine visits to Italy.

• Madrid's overall record away to Italian clubs is W5 D8 L18.

• Madrid have gone through in 44 of 57 European ties after winning the first leg at home, most recently against FC Bayern München in the 2013/14 semi-final (1-0 h, 4-0 a). When winning 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu first time out they have won four of eight ties, most recently against Manchester United FC in the 2002/03 quarter-finals (3-4 away).

• Madrid's shoot-out record in European competition is W2 L2:
5-6 v FK Crvena zvezda, 1974/75 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals
3-1 v Juventus, 1986/87 European Cup second round
1-3 v FC Bayern München, 2011/12 UEFA Champions League semi-finals
5-3 v Club Atlético de Madrid, 2015/16 UEFA Champions League final

Coach and player links
• Zinédine Zidane spent five seasons in Italy with Juventus (1996–2001), winning two Serie A titles. He was unbeaten in six matches against Napoli (W3 D3), scoring in a 1-1 home draw in November 1996 and a 2-1 away victory in November 1997.

• With France, Zidane won the UEFA EURO 2000 final against Italy but lost the 2006 FIFA World Cup final against the Azzurri – a match in which he scored France's goal from the penalty spot but was later sent off.

• A product of Madrid's youth system, Callejón scored 21 goals in 42 league games for their B team, Castilla (2006–08). After three seasons at RCD Espanyol (P3 L3 v Madrid), he returned to the Spanish capital for a two-year stay in the Merengues' first team, scoring eight goals in 55 Liga appearances.

• Albiol made 81 Liga appearances, scoring one goal, for Real Madrid between 2009 and 2013. He had previously played for Getafe CF and Valencia CF (W4 D1 L5 v Madrid). Albiol scored his first top-flight goal in a 2-1 Getafe win against Madrid in March 2005 but was sent off for Valencia in a 5-1 home defeat by Madrid in October 2007.

• Pepe Reina was not on the winning side against Madrid in seven attempts with FC Barcelona and Villarreal (D3 L4) but got the better of them as a Liverpool FC player in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League round of 16, keeping two clean sheets (1-0 a, 4-0 h).

• Mateo Kovačić did not triumph against Napoli in four attempts (D2 L2) during two and a half seasons with FC Internazionale Milano (2013–15).

• Álvaro Morata faced Napoli four times without scoring during two seasons in Italy with Juventus (W3 L1).

• Morata, Sergio Ramos and Lucas Vázquez were in the Spain side beaten 2-0 by an Italy team including Emanuele Giaccherini and substitute Lorenzo Insigne in the last 16 of UEFA EURO 2016.

• Kroos, with a penalty converted in a 6-5 shoot-out success, helped Germany beat Giaccherini and Insigne's Italy in the UEFA EURO 2016 quarter-finals. Insigne and Giaccherini scored their spot kicks.

• In another EURO quarter-final shoot-out, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe's Portugal ousted Arkadiusz Milik's Poland 5-3, Ronaldo and Milik scoring their penalties.

• Insigne was in the Italy team beaten 4-2 by the Spain of Isco and Morata in the final of the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

• Players from the same national team:
Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Vázquez, Isco, Morata & Reina, Albiol, Callejón (Spain)
Kovačić, Modrić & Rog, Strinić (Croatia)

Match facts

Napoli
• Kalidou Koulibaly will incur a suspension with his next booking. 

• Eighteen matches unbeaten heading into the first leg, Napoli have lost two of their four games since the 3-1 reverse at the Santiago Bernabéu.

• A 2-0 home defeat by Atalanta BC on 25 February was followed by a 3-1 loss at Juventus three days later in the first instalment of the teams' Coppa Italia semi-final. The return leg is on 5 April.

• Milik played 60 minutes against Juventus – his first start since rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on 8 October.

• The game against Juventus was Lorenzo Insigne's 200th appearance for Napoli.

• Hamšík has scored 110 goals for the Partenopei. He is six behind leader Diego Maradona on the club's all-time top scorers' list.

• With 18 Serie A goals to his name, Dries Mertens is enjoying his most productive campaign in a Napoli shirt. He is three goals shy of equalling his career-best total for a league season, set with PSV Eindhoven in 2011/12.

• Mertens has scored three hat-tricks this term, all of them since mid-December.

• Allan has not played since suffering a thigh injury during the 3-1 win at AC Chievo Verona on 19 February, but was on the bench for Saturday's 2-1 win at AS Roma.

Real Madrid
• Luka Modrić and Ramos are a booking away from a ban. 

• Madrid required two late goals from Ronaldo to salvage a 3-3 draw at home to UD Las Palmas, a match in which Gareth Bale was sent off, on 1 March.

• Zidane's men have scored in a Spanish record 46 successive fixtures in all competitions, bettering Barcelona's run of 44 between 1942 and 1944.

• The 0-0 draw at Manchester City FC in the first leg of their 2016/17 UEFA Champions League semi-final was the last time the Whites failed to score.

• Benzema, Madrid's leading marksman in the UEFA Champions League this season, has scored just three goals in his last 11 outings in all competitions; two of those came in Saturday's 4-1 win at SD Eibar.