Gareth Bale was the star of the show as his contributions fired Real Madrid to a 2-0 win at Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday.
See how the action unfolded at the Olimpico with our liveblog!
Bale's strike and cross for Lucas Vazquez got Madrid back on track, although Roma were left to rue Cengiz Under's miss-of-the-season contender.
Marcos Llorente surprisingly filled in for the injured Casemiro in Los Blancos’ midfield, with Dani Ceballos dropping to the substitutes' bench.
Dani Carvajal started his first match for two months, replacing Alvaro Odriozola at right-back, and Marco Asensio made way for Vazquez out wide.
However, Isco – who had played just 78 minutes under Santiago Solari – was nowhere to be seen in Los Merengues’ matchday squad.
Roma, meanwhile, were without five first-team personnel in Daniele De Rossi, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Javier Pastore, Diego Perotti and Edin Dzeko.
The two sides came into this game on the back of surprise League defeats, with Madrid going down 3-0 at Eibar and Roma suffering a 1-0 defeat to Udinese, although they triumphed 2-0 when they met at the Santiago Bernabeu last time out.
The two capital clubs kicked off having already qualified for the knockout stages, courtesy of Viktoria Plzen’s late victory over CSKA Moscow.
However, the Giallorossi started the more energised by that news as Vazquez’s handball in the box went unpunished and Aleksandar Kolarov blasted a shot just wide after some last-ditch Madrid defending.
Los Blancos, for their part, did almost break through Luka Modric’s deflected strike, which Robin Olsen kept out with his legs, but Cengiz somehow blazed over an open goal from a yard out, when it looked easier to score.
Madrid promptly punished the Lupi for their profligacy as Federico Fazio’s awful header back to Olsen was snapped up by Bale, who dropped back from an offside position to pick his post past the Swede.
The Welshman then had a one-on-one saved by Olsen after a burst of pace from a long ball, but his pinpoint cross was knocked down for Vazquez to tap into an empty net.
Bale again broke clear down his spiritual home of the left flank, but Marcelo fired his pullback straight at the Roma goalkeeper, who then battered away a Karim Benzema drive at his near post.
The result lets Los Merengues go into the final round top of Group G, three points clear of the Giallorossi with a superior goal difference of +6.
Roma 0-2 Real Madrid
Bale 47, Vazquez 59
Roma: Olsen; Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov; Nzonzi (Coric 64), Cristante; Cengiz, Zaniolo (Karsdorp 69), El Shaarawy (Kluivert 22); Schick
Real Madrid: Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric (Valverde 80), Marcos Llorente, Kroos; Vazquez, Benzema (Mariano 77), Bale (Asensio 84)
Referee: Turpin (FRA)
