No enterprise but a lot, a lot, bitterness. Roma succumbs in the presence of Real Madrid under the blows of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesè and, barring miracles, prepares to say goodbye to the Champions League stage.
However, the feeling of a false result remains and not only for the proportions: the Giallorossi, in fact, would have deserved at least a draw and instead find themselves dealing with a very heavy defeat, a sort of early sentence despite the second leg still to be played.
And then we have to talk about the referee Kralovec, author of some wrong and totally unfavorable decisions for Roma: what to say in the face of the two solar penalties denied to El Shaarawy (foul by Navas on 0-0) and Florenzi (foul by Carvajal on 0- 1) except that these are two serious and decisive errors?
“I prefer to talk about the applause of the audience and the performance of the boys – Spalletti glossed over. – We weren't lucky but unfortunately they have the ability to make the most of what they create, but we weren't able to do it. We did something wrong in the defensive phase and you can't afford that with Real Madrid, but we did well and deserved something more."
He examines perfectly that of the Giallorossi coach, capable of bridling the Spaniards for a good part of the match in both phases. But tactics, however important, cannot make up for the technical differences and there, needless to underline it, Madrid are decidedly superior. And so, after almost an hour without risking practically anything (apart from a shot by Marcelo in the first half), here is the individual play that changed the game.
To do it, ça va sans dire, Cristiano Ronaldo who, ironically, had been provoked the day before by the Spanish press for his abstinence from away goals: the Portuguese, after responding in kind in the conference ("find me someone who has scored more than me”), he also did it on the pitch with a monstrous play, although aided by the decisive deviation from Florenzi (57').
Down by a goal, Roma raised their center of gravity further and the game inevitably took off. Opportunities are flocked from one side to the other: giallorossa (Salah, Vainqueur and Dzeko) and blanca (Cristiano and James Rodriguez again).
Then, just when the Giallorossi seemed close to a draw, Madrid's technical rate made the difference again. Jesè, as soon as he came on for James, took Digne's time and released an angled and powerful right foot on which Szczesny was unable to do anything (86').
At the final whistle in Kralovec (highly contested, rightly so, throughout the Olimpico) big smiles for Zidane, in his first victory as a coach in the Champions League, and a lot of bitterness for Spalletti, forced, against his will, to deal with a defeat that smacks of early elimination.
At least that's what logic says, which makes such a comeback at the Bernabeu almost unthinkable. Unless the god of football, greedy and cruel yesterday, decides to reward Roma with a night that would go down in history.
