Second-half goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and substitute Jes\u00e9 earned Zin\u00e9dine Zidane\u2019s side a hard-fought win in Rome.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid have one foot in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after capping a patient display in Rome with a 2-0 win.<\/p>\n
The Stadio Olimpico did not witness a shot on target until the 57th minute but it was worth waiting for as Marcelo released Cristiano Ronaldo for a trademark strike, cutting in from the left.<\/p>\n
Roma rallied but could not find an equaliser and Jes\u00e9 rounded off Zin\u00e9dine Zidane coaching debut in the competition in style. The first half soon established a routine, with Madrid content to build up slowly.
\nThe Roma rearguard bided their time before pouncing on anything loose and launching a rapid counter.<\/p>\n
The jet-heeled Mohamed Salah and Stephan El Shaarawy were the chief outlets, but though they provoked panic, Madrid\u2019s covering defence was rarely unduly stretched.<\/p>\n
Moments of real quality were conspicuous by their absence, and Wojciech Szcz\u0119sny\u2019s decision to wear tracksuit bottoms appeared prudent \u2013 he was virtually a spectator.<\/p>\n
There was one big scare before half-time, though, as Ronaldo flicked the ball inside to the lively Marcelo, who pivoted nicely and whipped a volley just wide.<\/p>\n
The pair combined again for the opening goal as Ronaldo sprung the offside trap to meet Marcelo\u2019s slide-rule pass.<\/p>\n
He coolly stepped inside Alessandro Florenzi before lashing a deflected effort high into the roof of the net. Suddenly the game opened up, with chances coming thick and fast at both ends.<\/p>\n
William Vainqueur flashed a shot just wide and substitute Edin D\u017eeko so nearly muscled his way in. But, after Ronaldo headed wide, it was another replacement who delivered the killer blow. Four minutes after coming on Jes\u00e9 made a powerful run from midfield before slotting in.<\/p>\n
Key player: Marcelo<\/strong> Ronaldo ruins Roma\u2019s plan<\/strong> For 57 minutes it worked a treat but then Ronaldo cleverly isolated Florenzi \u2013 once he had collected Marcelo\u2019s pass there was only one outcome.<\/p>\n Good time to end hoodoo<\/strong><\/p>\n Two seasons ago Madrid travelled to Schalke at this stage seeking only their second win in 26 trips to Germany. A 6-1 victory did the job, laying the platform for the D\u00e9cima. Zidane\u2019s side are now well placed to end another hex: Madrid have lost their last eight two-legged ties against Italian opposition.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: UEFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Second-half goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and substitute Jes\u00e9 earned Zin\u00e9dine Zidane\u2019s side a hard-fought win in Rome. Real Madrid have one foot in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after capping a patient display in Rome with a 2-0 win. The Stadio Olimpico did not witness a shot on target until the 57th minute but it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Brazil left-back was a doubt before the game with a shoulder problem but there was little sign of any issue in a typically full-blooded performance. Salah kept him busy in defence but it was going forward that Marcelo came alive, going close to a goal himself before unlocking the Roma back line for Ronaldo.<\/p>\n
\nLuciano Spalletti said on the eve of the game that he was not going to assign one player to mark Ronaldo; rather it would be a team effort.<\/p>\n