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UCL: Real Madrid, Wolfsburg secure away wins

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Real Madrid made the most of their chances to come away from the Stadio Olimpico with a solid 2-0 win over Roma in their Champions League Round of 16 first-leg.

Both teams made a plethora of errors as chances were initially few and far between, but a moment of magic from Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring 12 minutes into the second half as Los Blancos asserted their dominance.

As Roma tried to take the game by the scruff of the neck, they left themselves open to the counter attack, and Jese made sure of the result in the final moments with a surging run and low shot.

In a stale opening period, Cristiano Ronaldo flashed a quickly taken freekick wide, before Marcelo had the best opportunity with a beautifully sliced volley from outside the penalty area, which was inches wide.

Despite pressing Roma for the majority of the opening 45 minutes, the Spaniards found life difficult against a resolute Giallorossi backline.

The home side did slowly carve out a few opportunities of their own as the first half wore on.

Read also: Ronaldo inspires Real Madrid to defeat Bilbao

Both Miralem Pjanic and Diego Perotti saw shots blocked by the Madrid backline, while Stephan El Shaarawy was brilliantly tackled by Raphael Varane as he raced into the penalty area.

After the break, El Shaarawy got on the end of a 50-yard crossfield pass by Alessandro Florenzi, but Keylor Navas bravely blocked at the on-loan striker bore down on goal.

Read also: UCL: Mikel’s goal not good enough for Chelsea

Then moments later, Marcelo played in Ronaldo on the left, he cut inside Florenzi and rifled into the top corner, though there was a slight deflection which took the ball over Wojciech Szczesny.

Ronaldo got in behind the Roma defence and his cross flashed across goal.

At the other end, Mohamed Salah beat Marcelo and Sergio Ramos but his low cross was blocked by Varane. A thunderous William Vainqueur effort went just wide.

James Rodriguez crossed for Ronaldo but his low header rolled past the post and was gathered by the Roma defence.

As Roma pressed for an equaliser, they were more susceptible to the counter attack and Karim Benzema’s header from six-yards out hit Antonio Rudiger.

It should have been 1-1 when substitute Edin Dzeko was played in on goal, but his angled shot could only find the side-netting.

Florenzi then went down in the penalty area under and challenge from Daniel Carvajal, but the referee waves away Roma’s event protests.

Jese doubled Madrid’s advantage with four minutes left as Lucas Digne backed off the forward allowing his to slot into the far-left corner.

As a result, Luciano Spalletti’s men have it all to do at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on March 8 in the second-leg of the tie.

Similarly, Julian Draxler’s double put Wolfsburg in control of their Champions League last-16 tie with Gent as they won 3-2 in the first leg on Wednesday night.

The German forward netted the opener in the 44th minute, before adding his second less than 10 minutes after half-time.

Max Kruse then notched a third for Wolfsburg on the hour mark, but Sven Kums and substitute Kalifa Coulibaly pulled goals back late on to give Gent some hope ahead of the second leg.

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