Late drama on Wednesday gave Gent a chance in the second leg of its Champions League round of 16 match-up against Wolfsburg, while Real Madrid used two second-half goals of its own to get a leg up on Roma in their series. Wolfsburg still took an away victory, 3-2, while Madrid did the same by a 2-0 score.
Gent nearly conceded just seconds into its match, and Julian Draxler scored on either side of halftime before Max Kruse seemed to finish the series prematurely on the hour mark. However, the character of Gent wouldn’t allow it to lose without a massive fight, and Sven Kums and Kalifa Coulibaly scored in the 80th and 89th minutes, respectively, to keep the series within a goal.
In Rome, a nail-biting first half finished without either side getting a clear chance on goal. Roma stifled Madrid’s attack with a disciplined defensive block before Cristiano Ronaldo finally broke through in the 57th minute to give his side an important lead.
Jesé, off the bench four minutes earlier, added a second in the 86th to calm the team’s nerves heading into the home leg of the series.