Zidane passes Champions League test as Ronaldo strikes for Real Madrid

Roma 0 Real Madrid 2

Zinedine Zidane's debut as a Champions League coach ended with a comfortable 2-0 victory for Real Madrid in Rome and all but guaranteed the Spanish giants a place in the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition.

The Frenchman, who won the Champions League as a Real player in 2002 and was Carlo Ancelotti's assistant in the 2014 triumph, replaced Rafa Benitez as the club's head coach at the start of last month and Wednesday's last-16 trip to Italy was his first challenge outside La Liga.

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He passed with flying colours, thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo - his 12th in seven Champions League games this season - and Jese. The result means Real are still on course for a sixth consecutive Champions League semi-final, although Zidane was taking nothing for granted, despite the scoreline.

"Statistics don't count, especially when there's still another 90 minutes to play. We still have to think about the second leg and take it one game at a time," he said, when asked if was thinking about reaching the final on 28 May.

"We played a lot better than we have done in other away matches. It's important to score and keep a clean sheet in the Champions League and we did both. It was a difficult game against a good side. The first half was tough but we played much better after the break."

There was a touch of good fortune to Ronaldo's goal on 57 minutes, the Portuguese's speculative effort from the edge of the Roma box taking a slight deflection off a defender to lift it out of reach of keeper Wojciech Szczesny. But the former Arsenal stopper should have done better saving Jese's shot, as should the Roma defence, who backed off and allowed him to drive the ball across the face of the goal and into the far corner of the net.

That all but killed off the tie ahead of the return leg in the Bernabeu in three weeks' time. "When we conceded the first goal, we became fearful and that's why we conceded the second," said Roma coach Luciano Spalletti. "I'm happy with our application but sorry about the result. A game like this could have given us great momentum for the future. It's even more disappointing considering we probably had more chances than them."

There was a five-goal thriller in the night's other last-16 tie, with German side Wolfsburg at one stage on course for a rout against Gent. But the Belgian team, trailing 3-0 after an hour, fought back in the closing stages with two goals in the last ten minutes to set up an intriguing return leg next month.