Real Madrid reached the Champions League quarter-final with a 2-0 win over Roma in the Round of 16 second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu to qualify 4-0 on aggregate. Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez were enough to see Los Blancos see of the Italian side who threatened to score a number of times in either half.
Squads
Real Madrid: Navas, Danilo, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Bale, James, Ronaldo
AS Roma: Szczesny, Florenzi, Manolas, Zukanovic, Digne, Keita, Pjanic; Salah, Perotti, El Shaarawy, Dzeko
Roma fail to make chances count
With Roma down 2-0 from the first leg, it was the Italian side that seemed up for the game in the early stages of the first half. But Real Madrid eventually settled down and probed the Roma defence to find a way through.
However, the first real chance fell to the visitors when Mohamed Salah sprinted down the right flank and found Edin Dzeko with a square pass. The Bosnian striker looked all set to make it 1-0 but incredibly missed the target with a left-footed shot that went wide.
Real Madrid tried to strike back at the other end soon after with Luka Modric testing Wojciech Szczesny with a long-range strike. The Polish goalkeeper, on loan from Arsenal, was up to the task in spite of a deflection and managed to prevent the home side from going 1-0 up.
Roma had yet another chance to take the lead after a quickly taken free-kick saw Dzeko release Salah who was one-on-one with Keylor Navas. The Egyptian winger tried to chip Navas but was unable to get the shot on target.
Gareth Bale was looking to impress on his return to the squad after injury and he had the chance to release Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese forward had only Szczesny to beat but the 25-year-old goalkeeper charged down his shot and only conceded a corner. At this point, Zinedine Zidane’s men were frustrated with a lack of goalscoring chances in spite of a number of shots on goal.
Real Madrid finish the job in second half
Even after the restart, the Liga side were hungry for goals in spite of the 2-0 lead from the first leg. Szczesny was forced into two big saves early on, preventing an onrushing Marcelo from scoring and later denying James Rodriguez’s shot that was on target.
Salah then had Roma’s best chance of the game when he was again one-on-one with Navas but the Costa Rican goalkeeper was lucky to see Salah’s shot from his weaker right foot flash wide of the post. Navas was then forced into a save when Kostas Manolas had a chance to volley home the opener at the near post.
Cristiano Ronaldo then scored the opening goal to bring the Bernabeu to its feet. A couple of step-overs from substitute Lucas Vasquez on the right eventually saw a cross into the centre of the box and Ronaldo got there ahead of Manolas and squeeze it past the defender and Szczesny.
Soon after, he had a chance to double his tally but surprisingly put his shot wide. But he soon made up for it with an assist to James Rodriguez. A no-look pass saw James free on the left and his low shot went right through Szczesny’s legs to put the game out of Roma’s reach.
The Bernabeu then gave a standing ovation to Francesco Totti when he came on as a substitute late in the second half. The 39-year-old Italian forward playing his 24th season with Roma was probably playing his final Champions League game and was also greeted with respect by a couple of Real Madrid players as he came on.
There would be no fairy-tale ending, however, as Navas ensured Real Madrid kept a clean sheet even when Totti tried his luck from 20 yards. The goalkeeper had to throw himself to the right to deflect the shot for a corner which he dealt with himself.
In the end, it wasn’t the best performance from Real Madrid but they did enough to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 4-0 aggregate win.
Other scores
Wolfsburg 1-0 Gent (Andre Schurrle): Wolfsburg qualify 4-2 on aggregate
Additional reporting by Sunaadh Sagar
