Roma succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at home to Real Madrid in Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League first leg action at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Italian Serie A side found it difficult to make the most of home advantage, and eventually it was superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who found the breakthrough for the Galacticos.
He ran on to a through ball, controlling it with a single deft touch before a stunning finish in the top corner produced the lead for the Spaniards.
Jese would make life even more difficult for the Romans with a second Madrid goal, while Roma threatened on the counter attack but failed to score with their chances.
This sets up an incredibly tough task for the Italians in the second leg, as they will need to travel to Spain with a 2-0 aggregate deficit to overturn, which is something that few clubs would be able to pull off.
New Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane will feel confident that his team will be able to close off the tie in the black, progressing to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League as a result.
In the other Champions League match of the night Wolfsburg emerges as winners of a five-goal battle with Gent in Belgium.
The Belgians looked to be in serious trouble when Julian Draxler scored two good goals to put his side in command of the tie, before Max Kruse scored a third from a Christian Trasch cross.
But the beauty of football is that anything can happen, and in the last ten minutes Sven Kums and Kalifa Coulibaly both scored to give Gent hope for a second leg that will see the Belgian side travel to Germany.
