Though Roma have had a poor start to their 2018/19, all of the pressure in this game was on Real Madrid.
The pre-match narrative surrounded how well Real would cope without their twin talismen from the last three Champions League wins - Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo.
As it turned out, Los Blancos needn’t have worried.
The Italians were far from the physical marauding machine that knocked Barcelona out of the competition in last season’s quarter-finals.
They’ll have better days in this competition, whilst Julen Lopetegui’s side should cruise through to the knockout stages on this form.
A lot of pre-match focus had gone into what starting XI he would pick. Would Keylor Navas return in goal for a competition he enjoys and would Vinicius, finally, make his Real debut.
The answer was yes in the first instance, which would no doubt have miffed Thibaut Courtois given he’d been speaking about looking forward to making his debut in the competition for Real.
Vinicius might also be wondering what he needs to go to catch a break. He was named in the squad on Wednesday morning but then didn’t even make it onto the subs bench.
Lopetegui has verbalised more than once that he will unleash the youngster when he feels it’s appropriate and not before - no matter how many times supporters clamour for his inclusion.
Mariano is undoubtedly ahead of the Brazilian in the pecking order anyway - and he’s ostensibly a second choice behind BBA at present.
In any event, though it took the hosts a while to get going, as soon as Isco’s free-kick on the strike of half-time had found the back of the net, there was only one winner here.
Roma’s dogged resistance had been broken and meant that they would have to come out of their shell in the second half.
As they pushed forward, the giallorossi were picked off at will. Gareth Bale had already seen a chance come back off of the crossbar before doubling Real’s lead on 58.
The Welshman, perhaps more than any other player, is reaping the benefits of Ronaldo’s transfer.
With his work done for the evening, he made way for Mariano on 73, the Santiago Bernabéu crowd on their feet for his ‘second’ debut.
A short cameo it may have been, but a goal to cap his 20 minutes or so on the pitch will have given Lopetegui more food for thought.
For now, the coach can bask in the glow of a job well done and put all of the questions about Zidane and Ronaldo to bed once and for all.
#Emirates | #RMUCL
