Real Madrid beat Roma 2-0 in their Champions League last-16 first leg at the Stadio Olimpico with away goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jese giving them the upper hand in the two-legged tie.
Ronaldo, who hadn't scored an away goal in all competitions, put Real Madrid up 1-0 in the 57th minute with a curled effort that was deflected past Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Real dominated possession in the first half, pinning Roma back in their defensive third for large chunks of time, but couldn't find the opener.
Roma did look dangerous on the counter-attack on several occasions, with Mohamed Salah and Stephan El Shaarawy forcing the action when the Italian side broke free of their own half.
Real's best chance of the first half came when Ronaldo flipped the ball to Marcelo in the Roma penalty area, but the Brazilian's curling, first-time strike went just wide of the far post.
El Shaarawy nearly put Roma ahead before half-time when he collected a long pass just past midfield and took a good run at Keylor Navas' goal only to be denied at the last second by a retreating Dani Carvajal.
The teams went to the dressing room locked in a 0-0 draw.
Roma came out the stronger of the two teams after the break, once again finding plenty of space on the counter-attack. Radja Naingollan's effort from 18 yards was deflected away and El Shaarawy was inches from a penalty decision as Navas came off his line to sweep the ball
However, Real Madrid soon got the upper hand as Ronaldo chased down a nice through ball from Marcelo, cut back and hit a curling effort that beat Wojciech Szczesny after deflecting off of Roma defender Alessandro Florenzi.
The goal was Ronaldo's first away goal since Nov. 29, and his 33rd Champions League goal on the road over the last six seasons.
A desperate Roma weren't done, though, with Salah's pace continuing to open up opportunities to run at Real Madrid's goal. The Egyptian nearly played substitute Edin Dzeko in on goal with a curling cross after a run down the right flank.
Minutes later, Dzeko laid the ball off to William Vainqueur following a goalmouth scramble, but the midfielder's well-struck volley blazed wide right.
Dzeko again got in on goal in the 80th minute, but his quick turn and fire shot hit the side netting
Roma players felt hard done when a late Carvajal tackle on Florenzi in the Madrid penalty area was not whistled for a foul.
Substitute Jese scored the clinching goal in the 86th minute and Zinedine Zidane's team were able to kill off the remainder of the match and injury time.
The win marked Real's first road win in their last nine tries against Italian sides, having gone 0-4-4 in their previous eight, with their last win on Italian soil a 3-0 result vs. Roma in 2004.
The two teams meet again at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday, March 8, for the decisive second leg to determine who will advance to the quarterfinals.
Source : espnfc.co.uk
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