UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid 2-0 AS Roma - Tactical analysis
The Champions League resumed during the midweek as Real Madrid and AS Roma locked horns at the Santiago Bernabeu. In the end, it was Los Blancos who moved into the last eight of the UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 win as Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez grabbed the all-important goals to complete a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Also read: Chelsea vs PSG: Live streaming info, team news, match predictions, squad, date and time
In truth, the result was a flattering one for the home side who weren’t allowed to impose themselves on the game the way their fans would have expected thanks to a gutsy display by the Serie A club.
Luciano Spalletti will surely rue the loss and although the frustration and dissatisfaction will last for a few days, the fans shouldn’t feel too downhearted at the result considering how impressive an account the players gave over the course of the two legs. Nevertheless, this was Madrid’s night so let’s dissect just how Zinedine Zidane earned the second UCL win of his managerial career.
Ineffective Roma throw chances away
Before the match, any premonitions of a visiting player receiving a standing ovation might have excited the travelling contingent of a potential fightback, but the reality was a heck of a lot different as it was merely the introduction of Francesco Totti with the contest already over that drew the biggest applause for anything Roma-related.
In the end, it was the same old story for I Giallorossi as they floundered on the big stage. Losing against Real now means they have failed to make it beyond the round of the last 16 in four of their last five seasons in the Champions League and Spalletti’s post-match comments reflected a real anger in yet another stumble:
We need to change our mentality after this game. We need to realise the kind of chance we threw away tonight.
The statistics don’t lie, and it’s not going to make for easy reading as they chalk down another early exit. Some will say they have nobody else to blame but themselves because they were incredibly wasteful with the opportunities they crafted while others will put it down to sheer misfortune. As it was the last time this pair met – at the Stadio Olimpico – Roma looked to attack down the flanks through Stephan El Shaarawy and Mohamed Salah as well as utilising the focal point of Edin Dzeko where possible to pressurise the opposition.
Again, they failed in their efforts to make the most of this tactic because although their approach play was well-executed and intelligently constructed, the end product wasn’t adequately polished. Time and again, their forages forward rewarded them with a promising stake deep in Madrid’s territory but no matter what they mustered in and around the 18-yard box, they simply couldn’t rustle the back of the net.
Their squandered chance in the 28th minute was typical of their evening. Ervin Zukanovic supplied Dzeko who then slipped the ball through to Salah, but the Egypt international couldn’t find the back of the net to ruin Keylor Navas’ night:
Here's that #Salah chance on 28 minutes. Click the link for more #RealRoma graphics https://t.co/FTZQ36teot pic.twitter.com/VRXO0IJ9lA
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) March 8, 2016
There was an air of sombre predictability about the chances that continued to come their way because the more they missed, the more the possibility of a dramatic comeback slipped further from their grasp. By the time the 51st minute drifted in front of our eyes to see Salah spurn another chance wide of the mark, it seemed inevitable that they would get punished for their severe lack of clinical finishing.
Madrid’s offensive class shines through
Coming to the Bernabeu is never an easy occasion to face – sometimes even if you’re a Madrid player. The fans are never afraid to get on the players’ backs and wave the infamous white handkerchiefs but this was a happy spectacle for Zidane’s charges as they accomplished a job they needed to, and even went one better by securing a win with two well-taken goals.
Unlike their competitors, they were good enough to rustle the net, although they weren’t economical with their shooting as this WhoScored statistic shows:
Real Madrid: Had 37 shots tonight vs Roma - 5 more than any other team in a match in this season’s #UCL, beating their own record vs Malmo
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 8, 2016
Nevertheless, Los Merengues were able to rely on their attackers to do their jobs. Ronaldo bagged his 90th UCL goal to remind us all why he is the greatest finisher the competition has yet seen, while James popped up with their second of the night to put the icing on the cake.
It was definitely a top-heavy performance as Zizou’s charges looked to rely on their ability to cause problems for Roma’s defence more often than their own back-line was breached.
The riskiness of the move paid off on the night as they made it through but it would have been interesting to see what might have happened had they not scored at home. Utilising the willingness of Marcelo to get down the left flank to infiltrate the defence didn’t work for long periods and it was only as Roma got more desperate for goals that things opened up for the home team’s attackers to exploit the space they needed.
In contrast to the reverse fixture, shooting from distance was a theme for Madrid on the night but it didn’t work for them at all and it was only when their world-class strikers started to receive good deliveries, with Roma tired and very stretched, that the scoreboard could finally change in their favour.