FULL TIME: Roma 0-2 Real Madrid
And that’s that. It wasn’t much of a match, truth be told, but Real won’t care. They were clinical where Roma were wasteful - an away goal for Cristiano Ronaldo! - and take what is surely a decisive win back to the Bernabeu. Unless something very dramatic happens in Spain, Roma’s long wait for another Champions League quarter-final goes on.
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90 min: There will be three additional minutes.
88 min: Ronaldo makes way for Casemiro.
87 min: A suspicion that this tie is over now, even at the halfway point. Totti comes on for Florenzi. The World Cup winner’s first act is to take a corner on the right, but it’s easily cleared.
GOAL! Roma 0-2 Real Madrid (Jese 86)
Jese dribbles down the inside-right channel. And dribbles, and dribbles, and dribbles. Digne backs off, and backs off, and backs off. Jese reaches the edge of the box, and lashes a low shot into the bottom left. Szczesny had no chance. So simple. That was a vicious finish.
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85 min: Salah goes zipping off down the right. He’s cynically stopped in his tracks by Ramos. Salah stops to demand a booking - which comes - but if he had kept going, he’d have been clear down the right. Real can regroup, and the danger is gone. Which is costly, because ...
83 min: Florenzi takes up possession down the inside-right channel, and flicks into the area for Salah, who should control and take a free shot from 12 yards, but doesn’t. Roma have been worth an equaliser at least. Time’s not their friend now, though.
82 min: Rodriguez makes way for Jese.
81 min: Roma should have a penalty. Florenzi bursts into the Real box down the left. His touch is a bit heavy, but that’s by the by: as he strides after the ball, Carvajal slides in from the left and cleans him out. No idea how that wasn’t given. What a poor decision.
80 min: This is a very open game now. First Dzeko is released into the Real box down the left by a clever Perotti pass. He whips a shot goalwards from a tight angle, but Navas has the angle covered.
78 min: Roma swap Vainqueur for De Rossi. Ronaldo whips a cross into the box from the left. Rodriguez should score, but heads lamely wide from six yards. Then Real come again, Benzema attempting a curler into the top right from the edge of the box. An easy claim for the keeper.
76 min: Rodriguez twists and turns inside the Roma box on the left. He chips across for Benzema, who must head home from six yards. But he clatters his effort onto the back of Digne’s nut, and Roma escape! Ronaldo, rushing onto the rebound from the left, brushes past Pjanic’s high-kicking leg, and goes down looking for a penalty kick. He’s not getting it. In fairness to the referee, it didn’t look as though there was a whole load of contact.
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73 min: And now Real are close to a second. Rodriguez, his lug repaired, makes space down the inside right and floats a ball across for Ronaldo, rushing into the Roma box from the left. He wins a header, guiding the ball past Szczesny but across the face of goal and inches wide of the right-hand post. Florenzi ushered that out of play, the calmest man in the stadium. What judgement!
72 min: Roma are giving it a good go now. Dzeko causes all sorts of bother in the Real box. He can’t get a shot away, but neither can Real clear it. Dzeko holds it up, then rolls the ball back for Vainqueur, who unleashes a thunderbolt towards the top right from 25 yards. It curls away from the post at the very last. So close to a spectacular equaliser.
71 min: Salah tears down the right wing, past Ramos and Marcelo. He enters the box and fires low towards Dzeko, steaming in. But Varane slides in at the near post to intercept.
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69 min: A little space for Salah just inside the Real area on the right. But he can’t sort his feet out to get a shot away. Up the other end, Pjanic and Rudiger faff around on the edge of their own box in the grand style, and Ronaldo nearly strolls through.
68 min: All a bit scrappy at the moment. Real Madrid don’t have a care in the world, though, with the exception of Rodriguez, who has hurt his shoulder while competing for a 50-50.
“Dearest Scott,” begins Mac Millings. “Only three days late, I’ve made you an All-time Romantic Valentine XI.” Well, we are in the dream city of Rome, so let’s hear it.
David de Hey, Girl
Wim Junk
Sexx Fabregas
Micky Feelin’
Freddie Tjongueberg
Sergio Bouquets
Brian Steinage pregnancy
Romance-u Lukaku
Marriage Proposalvatore Schillaci
Alvaro Inamorata
Object of my affec-Shaun Goater
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66 min: Dzeko moves with purpose into the Real box down the left. His shot is cleared by Ramos, but very weakly indeed. Nainggolan has the opportunity to shoot from 20 yards, but miscontrols, and is forced to quickly poke the ball towards Salah on the right. Salah manages to get a shot in, but it’s at full stretch, and without power. Navas gathers.
64 min: Both teams make a change. Roma send on Dzeko in placve of El Shaarawy, while Isco makes way for Kovacic.
62 min: Benzema glides in from the left and looks to curl one delicately into the bottom right. Szczesny claims easily enough. Roma go up the other end, Perotti drawing a foul out on the left from Varane, who is booked. Perotti gets up and whips the free kick into the Real box, but it’s punched violently clear by Navas.
60 min: Roma are rocking. Ronaldo exchanges passes with Benzema to the left of the Roma D, and he’s free in the box. He reaches the byline and chips across. But there are no grey shirts in the middle. Manolas heads behind for a corner, and the set piece is mopped up easily enough, but Roma have to clear their heads here. Another away goal, and this tie might be over.
GOAL! Roma 0-1 Real Madrid (Ronaldo 57)
Marcelo scoops a pass down the left wing for Ronaldo. Real’s star man takes a clever touch inside, confusing the backtracking Florenzi, then shoots for the top right. The ball sails into that corner on a vicious arc, having taken a deflection off the Roma captain, who had spread himself in front of Ronaldo in the desperate style. Ronaldo races off in glee. Real have their away goal, and Roma are in a lot of trouble all of a sudden.
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55 min: Roma are looking for that precious goal. Pjanic, deep on the right, sprays a delightful high diagonal ball to El Shaarawy. The striker brings it down perfectly, but then takes a heavy touch as he prepares to stride into the area from the left. It allows Navas to come off his line and block the ball away from danger.
52 min: Perotti steps inside the Real area on the left, and has a dig. The ball’s deflected out for a corner, which is only half cleared by Real. It’s lumped back into the mixer. Ramos loses his bearings entirely, allowing the ball to fall at the feet of the suddenly busy Rudiger, ten yards out. It’s fortunate for Madrid that the Hail Mary fell to a defender.
50 min: Nainggolan strides into a lot of space down the inside-right channel. He’s got nobody up with him in support, so decides to have a smack from distance. The shot’s not all that, but it clanks off Ramos for a corner. The set piece comes to nothing. Real go up the other end, through Ronaldo out on the left. There follows a very strange incident. Ronaldo scoops a long diagonal ball towards Rodriguez in the middle. It’s a brilliant no-backlift pass. Rodriguez is miles offside, but it looks as though he’s clear on goal. He can’t control, though, and that allows Rudiger to attempt to intercept. Instead, he high-kicks Rodriguez in the ear, drawing a little blood. No offside flag, no free kick.
47 min: Salah and Perotti ping a couple of quick passes off each other on the edge of the Real D. They nearly manage to crowbar Salah into the area, but it doesn’t quite come off. Looks like both teams have come out with a renewed sense of purpose. There’s evidence of a bit more pace in this game already.
46 min: Marcelo skelps a long ball down the left wing. Ronaldo turns on the burners, and very nearly nips past Manolas. But not quite. Manolas tries to usher the ball out of play, but it clanks off his shin. It should be a corner, but Real don’t get it. Ronaldo throws a mild strop. Not for the first time this week, he’s within his rights.
And we're off again!
Real Madrid get the ball rolling for the second period, and it would be just lovely if there were a few more thrills during this half. Marcelo’s near miss with that fine volley was pretty much all we had to show for the opening 45. No changes in personnel. The half-time score from tonight’s other match, by the way, was Gent 0-1 Wolfsburg. Julian Draxler opened the scoring there on 44 minutes.
Half-time advertisement: In lieu of on-field artistic endeavour.
HALF TIME: Roma 0-0 Real Madrid
One for the purists.
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45 min: Vainqueur chips a gorgeous pass down the inside-left channel to send El Shaarawy scampering towards the Real box. As he enters the area, it looks as though he’ll be able to take a belt at goal. But he checks his stride, and the extra nanoseconds he requires allows Varane to tear across and block spectacularly. Great tackle, because had that been mistimed it would have been a corner and possibly a red card. The set piece comes to nothing. That’s as dangerous as Roma have looked all evening.
43 min: The busy Perotti wins a corner for Roma out on the right. The set piece is whipped in high. Manolas rises and clanks a fairly tame header miles over the bar.
41 min: A little space inside the Roma area for Benzema, but he can’t quite get his feet sorted for a shot. He lays off to Ronaldo on his left. Ronaldo shoots, but it’s blocked by this resolute Roma back line. Roma once again break upfield at pace through Salah, but the move breaks down. It’s a little scrappy now.
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39 min: A Ronaldo corner out on the right. Easily cleared by Roma. This isn’t the attacking masterclass set out in the brochure.
37 min: Kroos puts a stop to Digne’s gallop down the left. A free kick in a dangerous position, 30 yards out. With the box once again loaded, Pjanic scuffs the worst free kick of all time straight into the chest of Modric at super slow-motion. Talk about not clearing the first man; that one almost didn’t even reach the first man. Real clear their lines. The Roma defenders, having come upfield once more for some action, will be thoroughly radged off at having their time wasted again and again.
35 min: A bit of a scrap on the edge of the Real Madrid box. El Shaarawy has a shot, but it’s blocked by Ramos. Then Pjanic has a go. That one’s deflected wide right of goal. The resulting corner is a nonsense: with the box packed, Roma faff around on the right, and Perotti squirts a harmless ball inside for Navas to claim.
33 min: Oh this would have been a picture. Ronaldo, standing stock still on the left, chips a ball inside for Marcelo, on the left of the D. Marcelo meets the dropping ball with an insouciant volley, sending a dipper up, down and towards the bottom right. Szczesny is beaten all ends up, but the ball whistles wide of the right-hand post. Only just. That was gorgeous football.
32 min: Real are stepping up the pressure though. Marcelo has space to shoot on the edge of the box, but attempts an over-elaborate shuffle in an attempt to spring Benzema down the inside-left channel. It’s blocked by Manolas. Then another phase of play. Marcelo again. He crosses from the left, with a view to finding the head of Ronaldo, six yards out. Nearly, but not quite: Manolas clears this one too.
31 min: Isco drops a shoulder to move in from the left wing, picking up a pass from Kroos. He shoots. It’s blocked. Isco comes again, a one-two down the same flank with Marcelo. But the door slams shut on the edge of the box. Roma are holding their shape at the back very nicely right now.
28 min: Modric glides down the right at speed. He’s a delight to watch in full flight. But his cross into the box is headed clear by Rudiger. Then a bit of room for Ronaldo down the left. He sends the ball into the mixer too, but this time it’s headed clear by Manolas. Roma are looking fairly comfortable right now. Real have had most of the ball, but Szczesny hasn’t had anything to do yet.
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26 min: Salah is this close to sending Perotti away down the inside-right channel. But falling backwards, his pass is poor, and Ramos is there to block. Real were otherwise all over the shop at the back there.
24 min: Isco feints to shoot from 25 yards, but slides a pass down the inside-left channel towards Benzema instead. Right idea, but there’s too much pace on the ball. Roma break upfield through Salah again, and he very nearly burns Ramos on the right. But not quite. He runs the ball out of play for a goal kick.
23 min: Ronaldo drives down the middle, and is stopped by the outstretched leg of Nainggolan. The free kick’s nearly 40 yards out, so Ronaldo turns the chance of a direct shot down. Real shuttle the ball around to no effect. Maybe he should have had a pop anyway.
22 min: Marcelo strides down the left, his cross deflected out for a corner. Varane eyebrows the set piece on at the near post, but Manolas is there to head out for a second corner. That one is met by Benzema, who sends a header well clear of the bar.
19 min: Marcelo and Ronaldo exchange quick passes down the left, and for a second it looks like the latter will scoot clear towards the area. But just as he’s about to turn on the jets, Florenzi slides in and wins not just a tackle, but a free kick, guiding the ball onto Ronaldo’s hand. Roma have kept Real’s star man fairly quiet so far, starving him of the ball.
16 min: A good period of possession this, from Roma. Real are struggling to get a touch of the ball. Digne is showing quite a lot of ambition down the left. Then the ball is worked out to the right. Perotti is released into the box by a slide-rule Pjanic pass. He whips to the near post for El Shaarawy who, facing an incredibly tight angle, leans back and hooks over the bar. But that’s the first effort of the evening, however wayward. And a very decent, patient, pitch-wide move by Roma.
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14 min: Perotti makes good down the right, reaching the byline and cutting back for El Shaarawy. But Modric steps in to intercept. Roma are certainly working their way into this tie now.
13 min: Another corner that’s cleared without fuss or drama. But the home side come again, Salah and Pjanic exchanging crisp passes down the right. Salah cuts inside, stepping into the box, but he’s stopped in his tracks unceremoniously by Varane. Signs that Roma are waking up, having started rather slowly and timidly.
11 min: El Shaaraway should be booked for a ludicrous tug back on Rodriguez, who is skittering down the right wing. But it’s just a free kick, to the right of the Roma area. Kroos to take. He loops long, looking for Ronaldo, but it’s headed clear, allowing Roma to break up the right wing through Salah. The speedy winger wins a corner after zipping past Isco, and nearly foxing Marcelo.
10 min: Real are enjoying the lion’s share of possession, so the Stadio Olimpico has fallen a little quiet. A lot of passing in the midfield, with Roma keeping everyone behind the ball, in the final third. The visitors will be more than happy with this state of affairs.
8 min: Indeed he is. He pelts a low fizzer wide right of the goal. Not particularly accurate, but that was certainly travelling.
7 min: Modric gives the ball away in the middle of the park, allowing Digne to tear down the left. But the little midfielder chases back to block just before the Roma full back can deliver a cross. Real go up the other end, Ronaldo drawing a free kick out of Vainqueur, 35 yards from goal. He’s going to have a pop from there, isn’t he.
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5 min: Ronaldo embarks on his first run of the evening, down the left. He tries to diddle Salah with several stepovers, but Salah’s not buying it. He lays off for Marcelo, who wins a corner off Florenzi. The ball clanks off the Roma captain’s head at such pace that he requires a little treatment. But it looks as though he’ll be OK. The corner is headed clear with ease by El Shaarawy.
2 min: Real knock it around the back awhile, getting a feel of the ball. Rodriguez bursts down the inside-right channel, one-twoing with Benzema and nearly breaking into the box. But his path is blocked and possession is conceded.
And we're off!
The hosts get the ball rolling. Pjanic finds Florenzi out on the right. Florenzi curls a low ball into the Real box, but it’s easily claimed by Navas. Roma have only kept one clean sheet in their last 20 Champions League games. They’re already 60 seconds on their way to number two.
The teams are out! Needless to say, there’s a wonderful atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico. Roma are in their famous red-and-yellow shirts, while Real Madrid’s equally renowned meringue-white garb appears to have been put into the wash with the socks and towels; they’re decked out in a dull grey. I’m sure it looks good with jeans. Another great example of Florentino Pérez’s devastating business acumen. The Champions League anthem drones out of the PA speakers. Pennants are exchanged, coins are tossed, hands are shaken. We’ll be off in a minute!
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A bit of a coup for BT Sport, as they’ve got former Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez in the studio. And he’s pulled his big boots on, and he’s delivering Florentino Pérez a good old kicking. “Obviously I came from the academy at Real Madrid, and so I was proud to be there. We qualified scoring a lot of goals, and we wish we were still there now. It is difficult to explain. You need to know what happened at Real Madrid in the last years. So you had Camacho, Del Bosque, Pellegrini, Mourinho, Ancelotti ... it is not easy to be the manager there. You have to do everything perfectly. As soon as something is wrong, or that the chairman thinks is wrong, then you start having problems. The chairman is always around, talking with players, talking with the press, every single day. It is not easy. You have to fight against Barcelona, who have a style of football. Real Madrid is changing managers all the time. So that is the reason Barcelona have won five titles in the last seven years. They have won more than double trophies than Real Madrid since the chairman is there, because they are more consistent. Pérez did a good job in terms of business, but in terms of football, he is changing and changing.”
They ask Michael Owen some stuff about his time at Real Madrid as well.
Anyway.
Roma make just the one change from the team that won 3-1 at Carpi in Serie A last Friday. Edin Dzeko makes way for Miralem Pjanic.
Real Madrid don’t shake it up too much either, having just beaten Athletic Bilbao 4-2 at the Bernabeu. Marcelo and Isco come in; Danilo and Mateo Kovacic make way.
Tonight's teams
Roma: Szczesny, Florenzi, Manolas, Rudiger, Digne, Pjanic, Vainqueur, Nainggolan, Salah, Perotti, El Shaarawy.
Subs: De Sanctis, Dzeko, Totti, Maicon, Falque, De Rossi, Keita.
Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Isco, Rodriguez, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Subs: Casilla, Nacho, Casemiro, Kovacic, Lucas, Jese, Danilo.
Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic).
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🎼 ♭ Die Meister ♫ Die Besten ♪ Les grandes équipes ♫ The champions ♪ ♫
Here’s the scale of Roma’s task in this Round of 16 tie. Since losing to Villarreal just before Christmas, Real Madrid have embarked on a nine-match unbeaten run. In the process of totting up seven wins and a couple of draws, they’ve scored 37 goals, a rate of just over four per game. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored nine of them. Karim Benzema meanwhile has scored 16 goals in his past 12 outings, including two hat-tricks. Ulp.
Roma can’t quite match those stats. And yet the Italian giants are in none too shabby a state themselves. They’ve only lost one game in all competitions since the start of December, a narrow defeat at Serie A force of nature Juventus. The Giallorossi have won their last four matches, with Edin Džeko suddenly relocating his goalscoring chops after a minor drought. They’ll also take succour from the fact they held Real’s domestic rivals Barcelona to a 1-1 draw here at the Stadio Olimpico back in September.
Problem is, of course, they later shipped six at Camp Nou. But this is a new dawn. Roma parted company with their head coach Rudi Garcia last month, replacing him with Luciano Spalletti. Real have a new man at the helm for their Champions League adventure too, Popularity’s Rafa Benitez having made way for 2002 hero Zinedine Zidane. Both men will be desperate to make a statement tonight, as Roma look to reach the last eight for the first time since 2008, while Madrid pursue their sixth successive quarter-final appearance. It’s a clash between two of Europe’s giants. It’s the last 16 of the Champions League. It’s on!
Kick off: 8.45pm local time in Rome, 8.45pm back in Madrid, 7.45pm in Guardiantown, London.
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