Real Madrid 2 Roma 0 (4-0 agg)
Real Madrid strolled into the quarter finals of the Champions League on Tuesday night with a 2-0 win over AS Roma at the Bernabeu, ending a run of eight aggregate defeats by Italian sides in European knockout ties which stretched back to 1989.
Despite the comfortable-looking scoreline, the ten-time winners rarely had things their own way.
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The home side had to weather a storm of Italian pressure in the first half, with Premier League rejects Edin Dzeko and Mohamed Salah both spurning chances which could have wiped out the first-leg deficit and turned the tie into a real contest.
Dzeko's biggest chance was provided by Salah, who put him through one-on-one with Keylor Navas. The chance survived a poor first touch, but not the wild left-footed shot that followed.
Dzeko returned the favour later in the first half, setting up Salah for his own one-on-one with Navas. Another chance to eat into Madrid's advantage. Another wild strike skewed wide of the target.
More chances would be spurned by Roma before Cristiano Ronaldo punished them for their wastefulness at around the hour mark.
Zinedine Zidane's side had racked up 37 shots on goal by the full-time whistle, but most were long-range attempts which sailed wide or into the grateful arms of Wojciech Szczesny. When something with more subtlety was eventually attempted, it paid off – Ronaldo given an easy finish by Lucas Vazquez's cut-back.
The Champions League's all-time leading scorer turned provider a couple of minutes later to set up teammate James Rodriguez and put the icing on the cake, signalling the end of the tie as a contest and giving Roma boss Luciano Spalletti the green light to roll out Francesco Totti for a late Bernabeu farewell.
Spalletti blasted his team's attitude after the game, telling press: "When I come back into the dressing room after the final whistle and see the players satisfied because they will get compliments for the performance, this creates a disappointment and pain in me that I cannot reconcile."
