Roma vs Real Madrid in a Champions League clash

Rafael Benitez insists that while Cristiano Ronaldo is “very competitive” and “wants to win” the biggest concern he and Real Madrid should have is finding a way of stopping Barcelona.

Roma players felt hard done when the referee did not point to the spot following a late Carvajal tackle on Florenzi in the Madrid penalty area.

Substitute Jese Rodriguez was allowed to carry the ball deep into Roma territory before angling a shot beyond Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, leaving the Serie A team with a mountain to climb in the second leg.

“I’m happy (about the celebration) but above all because he scored”, added the Frenchman, who was a Champions League victor with Real as a player in 2002 but was making his competition debut as coach.

In particular, Mohamed Salah was threatening down the right, giving Marcelo a tough test on his return to action from a shoulder injury. However, Roma were still trying to create chances with Salah, El Shaarawy and Perotti working well together.

Early in the second, James Rodriguez had his head bloodied when William Vainqueur reached up with his boot to intercept a cross from Ronaldo and made contact with the Colombia worldwide. Just favourite this page and check back an hour before kick-off; we’ll have the team news and full build-up followed by all the best post-match analysis.

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti had deployed a 4-3-1-2 formation which left no space for Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, although he came on to replace Stephan El Shaarawy after he limped off in the second half.

The visitors took the lead just before the hour when Marcelo set up Ronaldo, who cut inside Alessandro Florenzi before angling one into the top corner, albeit helped by a slight deflection from the Roma captain.

“I will give you an anecdote: at Manchester I didn’t speak with [Ryan] Giggs or [Paul] Scholes, but we still won the Champions League“, he said ahead of Wednesday’s first leg clash at the Stadio Olimpico.

“We are happy for the fans’ applause”.

Substitute Jese added the Spanish team’s second four minutes from full-time with a solo run into the box and shot across the face of goal and inside the far post.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo scores during a Champions League, round of 16, first-leg soccer match between Roma and Real Madrid, at the Rome Olympic stadium, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.

“The lads gave it everything, they played well but we just couldn’t score”.