Real Madrid strolled into the Olimpico Wednesday night, and walked away with a 2-0 victory at Roma's expense that leaves the Italians on the brink of elimination from the UEFA Champions League. Their tormentor: Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored just before the hour to give the Spaniards a vital away-goal and deal the Italians a soul-crushing loss.
Ronaldo, who had been the center of attention coming into this match for a petulant press conference that saw him walk out after a reporter asked if a lack of team spirit was contributing to side's woes. Ronaldo responded with a rant that included remarks about his former Manchester United teammates, and ended with the words: "Let's just say that I would be happy to continue with this not-so-perfect form until the end of the season. If you can name one player who has scored more away goals than me since I arrived in Spain tell me who? No. There's nobody."
On Wednesday night, Ronaldo scored another away-goal, his fifth of the season in the Champions League, which is more than any other player. He took his season tally to 12, second-best only to the 17 he racked up in 2012-2013. He has now scored in sixty Champions League games, more than any other player in history. One might say he answered his critics.
"We're happy with the game and the result," Real manager Zinedine Zidane told reporters after the win. "We knew it was going to be a tough game but we fought to the end. In the first half they pressured us and that's normal in a difficult Champions League tie."
The game itself was not a classic, with a sterile first half that saw neither team carving out clear-cut chances. Marcelo had the best effort for Real Madrid, a swerving volley from the top of the area that just flew by Wojciech Szczesny's far post; Cristiano Ronaldo was largely invisible, isolated on the far flank while playing as a proper winger.
Roma, looking far more organized under their new (and their old) manager Luciano Spalletti, concentrated on freeing Stephan El Shaarawy and former Chelsea man Mohamed Salah, to varying degrees of effectiveness. Radja Nainggolan was constantly trying to push the play forward, but Real always had bodies in the way, and every attack broke on the bulwarks.
Still, it was Roma with the better chances, even if you had the nagging sense that Real were largely playing for the return leg. Diego Perotti did well to wriggle to the endline in the 16th minute, sending in a cross for El Shaarawy that Sergio Ramos intercepted away. Salah also got behind the defense a handful of times, but there was never anyone for him to deliver the ball back to.
The best chance fell to El Shaarawy at the end of the half, a long ball punted right down the gut that Raphael Varane quite smartly raced back to cut out at the last. With Zidane glowering at his players at the whistle, it seemed that Real might be in for a change at the half.
None came and after the break, Roma continued to take more of the game. Keylor Navas did very well to slide in at El Shaarawy's feet in the 55th minute and deny him a clear shot on goal. Replays showed that El Shaarawy might actually have been fouled on the play -- which would have been extremely costly for Real -- but ref Pavel Kralovec saw nothing untoward on the play.
And then, the sucker-punch. Just shy of the hour, a simple ball from Marcelo was lashed into the goal with devastating effect. Out wide, Marcelo collected, chested the ball down and then rolled the ball down the line sharply to Ronaldo, who blew by Alessandro Florenzi. Ronaldo then cut the ball back with a trademark back heel, sending Florenzi hurtling past, before uncorking a swerving, right-footed shot. The unlucky Florenzi saw the ball take a nick off him as he scrambled to recover, and the deflection had Szczesny helpless.
That did spark action at both ends with William Vainqueur narrowly missing the net after being set up well by sub Edin Dzeko. Ronaldo then stormed down the other end, and with Szczesny completely beat, managed to just miss the far post with a header that he really should have sunk.
Dzeko almost restored order in the 78th minute, when he beat Varane out wide left, only to ruffle the side net. And Florenzi and Salah had a great moment when they combined with six minutes on the clock, only see Navas rip off his line and snuff out the danger. Florenzi might have had a penalty kick awarded as well when Ramos clattered into him, but the Czech referee was having none of it.
Substitute Jese then sealed the game with five minutes remaining, strolling past two Roma defenders down the right flank with five to play, and nutmegging one of them to bury the ball at the far post. That goal may well have killed the tie off as well, as it is hard to see this Italian side scoring three at the Santiago Bernabeu. After all, even with a handful of chances, they couldn't score once at home on the night.
"We are happy for the fans' applause." Roma's Spalletti told reporters on Wednesday night. "They realized that the players gave their all, and that we haven't been lucky today. We created the right movements but did not score. You cannot make little mistakes against them when we couldn't take advantage of our chances."
Information from FOXSoccer.com's newswire services contributed to this report.
