Champions League: Napoli advance, Real Madrid send Ajax packing

Napoli held their nerve to beat Villarreal 2-0 with goals from Gokhan Inler and Marek Hamsik securing them a place in the last 16 at the expense of Manchester City on Wednesday. The Italians finished second in Group A behind Bayern Munich, with the Germans falling 2-0 at third-placed City who needed to win and hope Napoli drew or lost. Swiss midfielder Inler struck from 25 metres out in the 65th minute to settle his nervous team-mates who had struggled to make headway against already eliminated Villarreal. Slovakian international Hamsik bundled the ball in from close range at a corner in the 76th, leaving their Spanish hosts, semi-finalists in 2006, without a point in their six group games. “We are a well-rounded team and we have a lot of running in us. We like to get the ball and play football and this was key to us passing to the next stage,” Napoli’s Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi told Spanish television. [caption id=“attachment_150460” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Napoli’s Gokhan Inler falls as Villarreal’s Hernan Perez watches during their Champions League Group A soccer match. Reuters”]  [/caption] “To be in a group as difficult as this makes it particularly sweet to progress. It might be historic for us but we want to go further. “I wasn’t interested in what Manchester City were doing during the game. We were determined to concentrate on what we were doing and winning our game, and luckily we achieved that,” he said as a noisy contingent of travelling Italian supporters celebrated in the background. Mazzarri sent off Villarreal striker Marco Ruben fired against the post after only five minutes at the Madrigal but there was little to separate the sides in an evenly-balanced match. Napoli appeared to be spurred on by news Manchester City had gone 1-0 up against Bayern as halftime approached, a ripple of cheers running round the stadium, and Hamsik sent a shot fizzing past the post. As news filtered through that the Premier League leaders had scored a second just after the re-start, Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri was sent to the stands for pushing Nilmar when the Brazilian striker stumbled into his technical area. Inler finally struck from distance to set Napoli on their way and Hamsik reacted quickest for the second when a poorly struck corner squirmed across the face of goal and he turned the ball over the line. “We played a good game, but perhaps they needed it more in the second half. They played well and you can see they are a very good team,” Villarreal midfielder Bruno Soriano said. “We have experience in the Champions League to have done more but it is clear it was a very difficult group. Now we have to focus on La Liga.” Real Madrid vs Ajax Real Madrid secured a 3-0 win over Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday, their sixth consecutive victory in Champions League Group D, to leave the Dutch club in misery as they missed qualification for the knock-out phase. Champions and Europa League Ajax ended the night level on eight points with Olympique Lyon, 7-1 winners at Dinamo Zagreb, but were overtaken by the French side on goal difference. Real opened the scoring after 14 minutes when a pass from Kaka beat the Amsterdam offside trap and put Jose Callejon in a scoring position. [caption id=“attachment_150459” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Jan Vertonghen (L) of Ajax Amsterdam runs for the ball with Kaka of Real Madrid during the UEFA Champions League group D match between AFC Ajax and Real Madrid. Getty Images”]  [/caption] Ajax, who needed only a draw and started with a seven goal advantage over Lyon, were unlucky when first half goals by Nicolas Lodeiro and Vurnon Anita were ruled offside. Four minutes before the interval Real’s Karim Benzema set up Gonzalo Higuain to double the lead and in the second half only Sulejmani came close to bringing his side back in the match when his curved shot hit the bar. Callejon made it 3-0 for Real in stoppage time. “We were so close and if you go out like this it tastes bitter,” Ajax coach Frank de Boer told NOS-TV. “I noticed some tension in my team in the opening phase but after the opening goal we did well and scored two good goals which were wrongly disallowed. “It should have been 2-2 at halftime as we were not worse than Real who didn’t really play with everything they’ve got.” Reuters