Ronaldo, Jese on target as Real beat Roma

Cristiano Ronaldo hit his 90th Champions
League goal while second-half substitute Jese added
a late second as Real Madrid took a massive step
towards the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win at Roma on
Wednesday.
Real travelled to the Stadio Olimpico looking to
exorcise painful memories of losing 2-1 twice in
succession to the Giallorossi at this stage of the
competition in 2008.
After weathering a frustrating first half in which
Roma failed to finish off a series of promising
attacks, Ronaldo broke the deadlock on 57 minutes
when he ran on to Marcelo's chip to beat Wojciech
Szczesny with a shot that deflected off Alessandro
Florenzi.
It was the Portuguese forward's 12th goal in seven
Champions League games this term.
To their credit, Roma dug deep in a bid to claim a
share of the spoils and were unlucky not to earn a
penalty when Florenzi went down under the studs-up
challenge of Dani Carvajal.
Even after that decision, the hosts battled throughout
a dominant late spell inspired by Egyptian winger
Mohamed Salah, only to come up short.
It was inspiring stuff, but dozens of the 55,612 home
crowd began leaving their seats five minutes from
the finish when Jese flashed a shot across several
defenders to beat Szczesny low at his far post.
The victory gives Real a huge advantage ahead of
the return leg at their Santiago Bernabeu home in
three weeks time.
But Zinedine Zidane, who marked his full coaching
debut in the competition by rejoicing with his players
on the touchlines, called for caution.
"We're all happy because winning here wasn't easy
but we we're not through yet. We still have the
second leg to play," said the Frenchman, who was
assistant to Carlo Ancelotti when Real won their
historic 10th trophy in 2014.
"I'm happy for the way the lads played, especially
when we improved in the second half. Everyone
expects Ronaldo to score, and he fulfilled
expectations."