Look: Maradona delivers pre-match talk to Napoli ahead of Real Madrid tie

Napoli players received a special pre-match message from one of football's all-time greatest players as Diego Maradona did his best to fire the Italian side up ahead of Wednesday's Round of 16 encounter with Real Madrid.

The Argentine legend, who spent seven years in Naples during his illustrious career, was pictured inside the Napoli dressing room as players huddled around him during an apparent pep talk minutes before kickoff at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It seemed to work wonders early on as Lorenzo Insigne gave the visitors a surprising 1-0 lead inside 10 minutes after his long-range effort beat Real net-minder Keylor Navas.

The advantage didn't last long as Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos eventually fired Real into the lead.