UEFA Champions League
Result: AS Roma 0-2 Real Madrid
Date: 27 November 2018
Venue: Stadio Olimpico
Real Madrid put aside their poor form in LaLiga to defeat AS Roma 2-0 and advanced to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Just as the weekend, Isco was once again left out of the starting line-up, although Lucas Vazquez was included.
The game got off to a lively start, with Roma's Aleksander Kolarov firing just wide of the upright, although there was a handball in the build-up that went unpunished.
The hosts were then dealt a blow in the 23rd minute when Stephan El Shaarawy was forced off with an injury. He was replaced by Justin Kluivert.
Roma nearly opened the scoring after 33 minutes as Dani Carvajal produced a stunning block to deny Federico Fazio, before Kolarov fired wide from the rebound.
The Serie A outfit should have opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime after some good work by Nicolo Zaniolo set up Cengiz Under, who fired over the crossbar with the net gaping from three-yards out.
Roma were made to rue that miss as Los Blancos broke the deadlock shortly after the break, with Gareth Bale calmly slotting into the bottom corner.
It was 2-0 in the 58th minute as Benzema did well to pick out Lucas Vazquez, who had the simple task of tapping into an empty net.
With Real comfortably leading, Santiago Solari opted to withdraw Benzema for the final 15 minutes, making way for Mariano Diaz.
The final stages of the second failed to provide any clear goal-mouth openings as Los Blancos advance to the round of 16.
