3 things we learned from Real Madrid beating Roma 2-0

While the first look at the lineups led one to expect the match to run wide-open from the first kick, the early going of the match were anything but. Real Madrid had plenty of attacking talent on the pitch, but Roma were defending deep and tight behind the ball, denying Madrid’s top-notch attackers from getting much space to work with on or off the ball. That restricted Madrid to only getting major threats from set pieces early on -- though they had plenty of those, and Wojciech Szczcesny had to constantly stay on his toes in goal against Madrid’s quality in dead ball situations.

Roma had a few half-chances of their own, mostly working on the counter through speedy wing players Mohamed Salah and Stephan El Shaarawy, the latter of whom has been in red-hot form since joining in January. They didn’t get much support from midfield on those counters, though, and Roma struggled mightily in their efforts to build up play more normally, so the first half was largely dominated by Madrid’s efforts to unlock Roma’s defense.

Still, despite a number of threats at goal -- and a late penalty appeal for Roma that fell on deaf ears -- the first half ended without a single shot on target, though Roma’s goal had been buzzed several times.

There were questions as to whether a penalty should have been awarded -- replays were inconclusive as different angles showed different outcomes -- but the more important factor for Roma was that El Shaarawy was clearly hurt and would not be in the game for long. That dealt a serious blow to Roma’s attack, as their best efforts forward had all involved him. Salah was getting similar space on the other side of the pitch, but was proving much less effective in how he exploited that space, meaning that without El Shaarawy, Roma were without their most dangerous weapon.

While Roma tried to re-gather themselves, Madrid struck just minutes later -- and who else would it be but Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese megastar broke a long scoreless streak away from home that dated back to November by breaking forward on the ball and then cutting back behind Alessandro Florenzi. The Roma fullback was left helpless to watch as Ronaldo uncorked a curler that Szczesny simply couldn’t reach.

That is, they couldn’t until substitute attacker Jese got his shot in, and oh goodness what a shot it was. He blistered a shot at full stride running down the right side of Real Madrid’s attack, pushing it just out of Szczesny’s reach and into the netting on the far side of goal. It came almost from nowhere, and it was as if the air got sucked out of the crowd at the Stadio Olimpco once they realized what had happened.

That second goal was the last of the game, and with Real Madrid carrying two away goals into the home leg of this tie, it was probably the dagger that will effectively end Roma’s Champions League campaign. It’s been a long time since Real Madrid won in Italy, but the result was rarely in doubt on Wednesday. The final 2-0 scoreline was well deserved and a fair reflection of the degree to which Madrid controlled most of the match. Roma fought hard, but in the end, it just wasn’t enough.

Goals: None

Goals: Ronaldo (57’), Jese (86’)

That perhaps seems obvious on the face of it, but many Roma fans seemed to forget that fact before the match when the giallorossi’s striker-less lineup was drawing comparisons to the heyday of Luciano Spalletti’s first era in charge of Roma, when Totti shone as a false nine. Perotti is a solid player in his own right, but he isn’t anywhere near natural in that role and lacks that dynamic skillset that Totti had in his prime, so Roma’s attack struggled mightily because of it.

In the first half, Marcelo was perhaps Real Madrid’s best attacking threat going forward, but he was also a massive weak link for his team’s defense. He had some fantastic moments in the attacking third, buzzing the far post with a snap-shot volley that was Madrid’s best chance of the first half, but too often when Roma won the ball back, Marcelo got caught way too high up and wasn’t getting back anywhere near fast enough. That forced Sergio Ramos and Toni Kroos to spend much of their time covering for Marcelo in defense, and handed Roma several more chances to cause danger than they would have if Marcelo was actually in position.

Full credit to Roma for fighting hard and frustrating Madrid in the first half, but sooner or later they were going to make a mistake, and a team as good as Madrid will punish every mistake you make. That’s exactly what happened, but Roma shouldn’t be ashamed of their performance. They put up a hell of a fight, but they were simply outgunned by too wide a margin. They’re still a much better side than they were a few years ago, and if Roma can keep up their steady improvement they can challenge the likes of Real Madrid a few more years down the road. They’re just not quite ready for that challenge yet.