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Roma take the lead against Real Madrid
Posted - 20th February 2008
Roma started well in the home leg of their champions league draw against Real Madrid, but with just seven minutes gone were caught savagely on the counter attack, as Arjen Robben fed the ball to José María Gutiérrez Hernández, or Guti as he's better known for a shot. His ball was skilfully deflected into the net by a touch from Madrid veteran (and emblematically famous under-achiever) Raul.
Bad news for the Roma fans, anxious to do well in the Champions League, both to exorcise truly the demons of that night last April when Manchester United tortured them with a 7-1 humiliation, and also because it's virtually impossible for the club to catch Serie A leaders Inter Milan at this point (who have a clear eleven point lead).
To their credit, while most of the first-half possesion was then dominated by Real Madrid, Francesco Totti's side came back and found an equaliser after twenty mintues when Mancini cut-back a ball for a waiting David Pizzaro to shoot into the net.
The combination of Raul and Van Nistleroy caused Roma's defence no shortage of problems - during the first half in particular. The missed chances by both, though, managed to Keep Luciano Spalletti's team in the game.
The second half saw a more composed Roma, and the game lay wide open. Both teams had different scoring opportunities, but it was Roma who managed to convert opportunity into fact as Francesco Totti, again on the counter-attack, fed one of his perfect passes through to Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino Mancini who netted it confidently.
While Real Madrid threw everything back at Roma, Totti's men effectively closed ranks, hitting the Spanish team every now and then on the break. Bad news for the return leg for Real came when defender Sergio Ramos picked up a booking which will prevent him from taking to the pitch in the Santiago Bernabeu in a fortnight's time.
Tensions in the Roma camp had hit the headlines in the days running up to the match, with an apparent training-ground bout of fisticuffs erupting between Panucci and Alberto Aquilani. Symptomatic of some deep malaise in the team? This is a Roma team that started off the season at the top of the table, until a draw with Juventus and defeat against Inter saw them stumble into second place. At the moment they're faced with the unenviable challenge of fighting off Juventus, who are not competing in the Champions League (thanks to their unwanted vacation in Serie B last year). So, all in all this was a more than welcome victory.
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