Champions League: Three takeaways from Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over AS Roma
By Ben Sundock
Gareth Bale silenced the haters, Lucas Vazquez plus Marcos Llorente proved their manager right, and Real Madrid topped Group G of the Champions League with an emphatic 2-0 win at AS Roma Tuesday night. Here are three takeaways from the crucial win.
If you were to look at Real Madrid’s performances against AS Roma alone, you would see two wins – both home and away – five goals and zero conceded.
Compartmentalizing these two fixtures makes Los Blancos look like world beaters, however, as we Madridistas know well, not every team the club has faced this year is like Roma. In fact, there are several teams Real has lost to that are of lower quality than Roma (just see CSKA Moscow for confirmation).
An all-important goal from Gareth Bale some 60 seconds into the second half and great link-up between the three forwards led to two goals for the good.
Let’s dive into the three takeaways.
Bale silences the critics – for now
84 minutes of dominance is how I would sum up the Welsh Dragon’s play on Tuesday night in the Champions League. After rumors began to swirl that the Real Madrid board was growing tired of Bale’s lack of determination and were ready to move on from him, the number 11 came up huge.
Bale was in the right place at the right time to open the scoring in the 47th minute.
Although many will claim the goal was nothing but luck, the awareness from Bale to take a couple dribbles with pressure closing him down before letting the shot go was remarkable. Not to mention the finish is nothing but class.
Bale, who had one of the worst statistical showings against Eibar in the 3-0 loss on Saturday was much, much better Tuesday night.
He was caught offside just one time, completed 87 percent of his passes, and had two very good chances to score (the first being the goal). Even though Gareth should’ve had two goals, his performance deserves praise.
This is the Bale Real Madrid need and rely on.