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Real Madrid
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Roma
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Form guide (all competitions, most recent first)
Real Madrid: WWLDWW
Roma: WWWLWW
Real Madrid host AS Roma in the second leg of their round of 16 tie in pole position to reach the Uefa Champions League quarterfinals for the sixth season in a row.
Madrid have lost their last eight two-legged ties against Serie A sides, but first-leg goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesé have put them in control of the tie.
For Zinédine Zidane, this is his first Uefa Champions League home fixture as coach of the team he won the competition with as a player in 2002, scoring the winning goal in the final. He succeeded Rafael Benítez in early January.
Roma also changed their coach at the start of this year with Rudi Garcia replaced by Luciano Spalletti, who helped the Serie A team overcome Madrid the last time they met in this competition.
Match Background
Real Madrid
After winning Group A, Madrid are now pursuing a sixth successive quarterfinal appearance.
Madrid thrashed Malmö FF 8-0 in their last home fixture in the competition in December – the joint-biggest victory in 24 years of the Uefa Champions League. Overall they scored 13 goals and conceded none in amassing three straight home victories in the group stage.
The Merengues have won 21 of their 30 home matches against Italian opponents, drawing three and losing six.
Madrid suffered Uefa Champions League elimination when they last hosted Serie A opposition, their 1-1 second-leg draw with Juventus consigning them to a 3-2 aggregate reverse in last season's semifinals.
Madrid have lost their last eight two-legged knockout ties against Serie A sides. Their last victory was in the 1987/88 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round against SSC Napoli (aggregate 3-1). Emilio Butragueño, now a club director, netted in the 1-1 second-leg draw in Naples.
They have lost only one of the 30 Uefa competition ties in which they won the first leg away from home. The exception came against Odense BK in the 1994/95 Uefa Cup third round when a 3-2 away success preceded a 2-0 home reverse.
Madrid's shoot-out record in European competition is W1 L2:
5-6 v FK Crvena zvezda, 1974/75 European Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals
3-1 v Juventus, 1986/87 European Cup second round
1-3 v FC Bayern München, 2011/12 Uefa Champions League semifinals
Roma
Roma are looking to reach the Uefa Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.
They qualified for the last 16 as Group E runners-up behind FC Barcelona, despite winning only one game (3-2 at home v Bayer 04 Leverkusen).
Roma scored seven goals in three away matches in Group E but conceded 13 – six of them in a 6-1 defeat at Barcelona on 24 November. Their overall away record against Spanish rivals is: W3 D3 L6.
Roma's record in two-legged ties against Spanish teams is W2 L3.
The Giallorossi last won away from home in the Uefa Champions League when beating FC Basle 1893 (3-2) in November 2010.
Roma have won just one of the five Uefa competition ties in which they lost the first leg at home, recovering from a 2-1 reverse against 1. FC Nürnberg in the 1988/89 Uefa Cup first round with a 3-1 triumph in Germany. Most recently, the Giallorossi went down 3-2 at home to FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2010/11 Uefa Champions League round of 16, subsequently losing 3-0 in Ukraine.
Their Uefa shoot-out record is W1 L3:
4-2 v IFK Norrköping, 1982/83 Uefa Cup second round
2-4 v Liverpool FC, 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup final
3-4 v Real Zaragoza, 1986/87 Uefa Cup Winners' Cup first round
6-7 v Arsenal FC, 2008/09 Uefa Champions League round of 16
Previous Meeting
Prior to this season the clubs had met eight times in Uefa competition with four wins for Madrid, three for Roma and one draw.
The sides faced off in a pre-season friendly in Melbourne on 18 July last year. Roma prevailed 7-6 on penalties after a 0-0 draw, Seydou Keita converting the winning kick after Morgan De Sanctis had saved from Lucas Vázquez.
Their most recent official encounter was in the Uefa Champions League round of 16 in 2007/08 when Spalletti's Roma recorded 2-1 home and away victories.
The first leg was at the Stadio Olimpico and though Raúl González struck first, Roma hit back through David Pizarro and Mancini. Raúl scored again in the second leg to equalise Rodrigo Taddei's strike yet a Madrid team reduced to ten men by Pepe's red card conceded again as Roma substitute Mirko Vucinic sealed a 4-2 aggregate triumph.
The line-ups for that second leg on 5 March 2008 were:
Real Madrid: Casillas, Salgado (Torres 64), Pepe, Cannavaro, Heinze, Diarra (Drenthe 61), Gago, Guti, Júlio Baptista (Soldado 85), Robinho, Raúl.
Roma: Doni, Cicinho (Panucci 87), Mexès, Juan, Tonetto, Aquilani, De Rossi, Perrotta (Pizarro 76), Taddei, Mancini (Vucinic 65), Totti.
Francesco Totti registered in the clubs' two games in the 2001/02 first group stage. His penalty could not prevent a 2-1 Madrid win in Rome, but he earned a point in a 1-1 draw back at the Santiago Bernabéu where Luís Figo converted a spot-kick equaliser.
Totti was on target again at the Bernabéu in the 2002/03 first group stage, notching the only goal in a 1-0 victory which avenged Madrid's earlier 3-0 success at the Stadio Olimpico.
Daniele De Rossi broke the deadlock when Madrid beat Roma 4-2 in the Spanish capital in the 2004/05 group stage. The Merengues won the return in Rome too (3-0) in the last of Zidane's 14 career appearances against the Giallorossi (W7 D5 L2).
Match Facts
Real Madrid
Casemiro and Ramos will incur a suspension with their next bookings.
Ronaldo scored four in Saturday's 7-1 defeat of Celta Vigo to take his all-time Liga tally to 252 goals, second on the all-time list.
The Whites' 11-game unbeaten run – eight of those matches under Zidane – ended when they lost 1-0 at home to Atlético on 27 February.
Borja Mayoral, scorer of seven goals in the Uefa Youth League this season, made his first Liga start on 2 March as the Merengues prevailed 3-1 at Levante UD.
Benzema sustained a hamstring injury in the first half against Atlético and is expected to miss the visit of Roma. Luka Modric (ankle) is also doubtful, while Marcelo (shoulder) and Bale (hamstring) made their comebacks off the bench against Celta.
Roma
De Rossi and Radja Nainggolan are a booking away from a suspension.
Roma have won their last seven Serie A games, their best run in the league since nine consecutive victories in March/April 2014.
Stephan El Shaarawy has scored five times in Serie A since joining the Giallorossi on loan from AC Milan in January. The forward did not manage a Ligue 1 goal while with AS Monaco FC in the first half of the season.
With nine Serie A goals to his name, Miralem Pjanic is enjoying the most productive campaign of his career.
De Rossi was ruled out for four weeks after suffering a calf injury during his substitute outing against Madrid in the first leg.
Kevin Strootman, fit again after a knee injury, made his first appearance since 25 January 2015 when he came off the bench in the 5-1 defeat of US Città di Palermo on 21 February. The midfielder is not in Roma's Uefa Champions League squad.
Zinédine Zidane, Real Madrid coach
Of course we are excited about the possibility of winning this competition but we should only be thinking about this difficult match ahead. Roma are a good team but I'm more worried about what we are going to do. Their forwards are very good. If you don't do your job properly, you can be eliminated.
For me the most important match is always the next one. As a coach, you want to be involved in games like this. You can't explain with words what you feel. We have to defend when we don't have the ball and try to hurt our opponents when we do have it. It's not true that Roma have no chance.
Luciano Spalletti, Roma coach
I'm asking my team to do the impossible. The way they are training allows me to ask that. We have to score early then we'll see what happens; it could change the balance of the tie. We mustn't be weak mentally and play to lose. If anyone thinks like that with me, they won't even train.
We must be able to choose when to attack or hold off. We must be confident when taking the initiative. The result in the first leg was harsh seeing how we performed. We were unlucky. We've been improving game by game and this team has enormous potential.
Did you know?
Madrid have lost their last eight two-legged ties against Serie A teams.
Possible line-ups
Real Madrid: Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Kroos, Isco; James, Ronaldo, Bale.
Out: Benzema (hamstring)
Doubtful: none
Misses next match if booked: Casimiro, Sergio Ramos
Roma: Szczesny; Florenzi, Manolas, Zukanovic, Digne; Keita, Pjanic; Salah, Perotti, El Shaarawy; Džeko.
Out: De Rossi (calf), Rüdiger (thigh)
Doubtful: Nainggolan (groin)
Misses next match if booked: De Rossi, Nainggolan
Source.supersport.com
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