Napoli take control of Champions League group B with Jose Callejon goal

Napoli have a huge, crucial, important 1-0 lead in their Champions League match against Benfica, a lead that could see them win the group if they maintain it. That goal comes via Jose Callejon, thanks to a wonderful assist from Dries Mertens.

The finish from Callejon is excellent, weighted perfectly as he lofted his shot over Benfica goalkeeper Ederson. It was a nice feather in Callejon’s cap, who was enjoying a fantastic performance as perhaps the best player on the pitch on the day.

The real highlight, though, is the understated but phenomenal assist from Dries Mertens. You don’t get a great look at it from that highlight — sadly, no one has shown it that well — but Mertens completely fakes out the Benfica defense by making it look like he’s going to receive a pass and make a wide looping run on the ball to feed Callejon once he gets to the edge of the box. It was a play Napoli had used before in the match to great effect, so Benfica set up to defend that — only for Mertens to make a wonderfully subtle and perfectly weighted flick to set Callejon free on goal.

Perfection.

The goal has Napoli sitting atop the group if the result holds, and with Dynamo Kyiv lambasting nine-man Besiktas 5-0 as of the time of writing, there’s little reason to think that Napoli won’t be in the Champions League round of 16. Not bad. Not bad at all.