Roma gave a good account of themselves and were denied a clear penalty, but Real Madrid ran out 2-0 winners at the Olimpico.
See how it all unfolded and give your views on our Liveblog.
Roma gave a good account of themselves and were denied a clear penalty, but Real Madrid ran out 2-0 winners at the Olimpico.
See how it all unfolded and give your views on our Liveblog.
This was the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 and both sides had different Coaches since qualifying from the group stage. Zinedine Zidane missed Gareth Bale and Pepe, while Luciano Spalletti had Kostas Manolas injured, Daniele De Rossi not fit to start and chose Diego Perotti as a False 9.
Real Madrid had not eliminated an Italian side in a European knockout fixture for almost 29 years, failing eight times since beating Napoli 3-1 on aggregate in 1987.
Stephan El Shaarawy turned over from a tight angle after Perotti ran on to an Alessandro Florenzi through ball to pull back from the by-line. Real Madrid didn’t have a chance until the half-hour mark, when Isco’s snapshot from the edge of the box was charged down by Kostas Manolas.
Ronaldo set Marcelo up for a scorching left-foot volley from the left side of the area that flashed inches past the far post.
Just before half-time El Shaarawy got away from Dani Carvajal and was just about to pull the trigger when Raphael Varane came sprinting across for a desperate block.
Remarkably, this was the first time since 2011 that Real Madrid had failed to get a single shot on target in the first half
Sergio Ramos charged down a Radja Nainggolan strike and William Vainqueur acrobatically intercepted a Ronaldo cross-field pass for James Rodriguez, catching the Colombian on the ear with his studs on the way back down. El Shaarawy ran on to a long ball and Keylor Navas had to sprint off his line to tackle with a knee.
Real Madrid did eventually break the deadlock with some fortune, as Ronaldo cut in from the left flank and his right-foot curler took a huge deflection off Florenzi to loop into the far top corner.
Luciano Spalletti had to react, introducing Edin Dzeko. Salah’s touch was poor on a Nainggolan assist, then Varane was again decisive as he got back with a sliding tackle to intercept Salah’s pass for a Dzeko tap-in.
At the end of a long attacking move, Vainqueur’s screamer from the edge of the box swerved inches wide of the upright. Moments later, Ronaldo’s header flashed across the face of goal to skim the far post.
Benzema’s header was charged down and James Rodriguez turned a totally free header wide. Dzeko sprung the offside trap only to fire on to the side-netting from a tight angle.
There was huge controversy on 80 minutes when Carvajal mistimed his sliding tackle on Florenzi, failing to make contact with the ball and clearly catching his ankle. Incredibly, the referee waved away appeals for a stonewall penalty.
Salah’s first touch let him down again on a Florenzi assist, allowing Navas to smother, but Real Madrid added a second when substitute Jese drilled his right-foot shot through Digne’s legs and into the far bottom corner.
Roma 0-2 Real Madrid
Scorers: Cristiano Ronaldo 57 (RM), Jese 86 (RM)
Roma: Szczesny; Florenzi (Totti 87), Manolas, Rüdiger, Digne; Vainqueur (De Rossi 77); Pjanic, Salah, Nainggolan, El Sharaawy (Dzeko 64); Perotti
Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Kroos, Modric, Isco (Kovacic 64); James Rodriguez (Jese 82), Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo (Casemiro 89)
Ref: Kralovec (CZE)