madrid weather roma storm to reach last eight published: tuesday 8 march 2016, 22.42cet real madrid 2-0 roma (agg: 4-0) the ıtalian side had plenty of chances to get back into the tie before madrid struck twice to reach the quarter-finals for the sixth season running. by joseph walker from santiago bernabéu
cristiano ronaldo takes uefa champions league tally to 90 goals roma squander three golden chances inside 50 minutes spanish side through to quarter-finals for sixth season in a row madrid end run of eight defeats in two-legged ties by serie a teams quarter-final draw at 12.00cet on 18 march in nyon cristiano ronaldo and james rodríguez struck midway through the second half to complete a resounding 4-0 aggregate win for real madrid in the round of 16 – but the scoreline did not tell the whole story.
roma had plenty of chances to get back into the tie but failed to capitalise and the game was up when ronaldo became the first player to score 90 uefa champions league goals. four minutes later he turned provider, teeing up james as madrid rubber-stamped their quarter-final place.
roma boss luciano spalletti said on the eve of the match that he was asking his players "to do the impossible" in overturning a 2-0 deficit at the bernabéu, but it certainly looked viable early on. the visitors attacked with vigour; madrid, to the occasional burst of whistles from their own fans, were rocking.
the tie could – maybe should – have been level inside half an hour. mohamed salah led the charge, seemingly playing in fast-forward as defenders trailed in his wake. one run led to a golden opportunity for edin džeko, squandered; later the egyptian attempted to round off his own good work but fared no better.
early in the second period it opened up for salah again and this time keylor navas was not even tested – roma could not afford to pass up such chances. after better efforts from alessandro florenzi and kostas manolas they were made to pay as lucas vázquez, just on as a substitute, worked space for a cross that found ronaldo and, decisively, the net.
