Melbourne : Italian football club AS Roma defeated Spanish giants Real Madrid via penalty shoot-out 7-6, after the two teams played out a 0-0 draw in their International Champions Cup (ICC) clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday.
Both teams had genuine chances to steal the match throughout the 90 minutes, but it came down to penalties after a lacklustre second half display left the crowd of 80,746 underwhelmed, reports Xinhua.
Neither goalkeeper was able to force a save after the first 12 shots of the shoot-out. But it was Real’s Lucas Vazquez who had his poor strike brilliantly saved by Roma’s Italian goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis, ultimately allowing Roma’s Seydou Keita to calmly convert his team’s seventh penalty, securing the two points to shoot to the top of the table.
The match started in a lively manner and was highlighted by sporadic but punchy forays into the forward halves, however neither team was able to capitalise on the periods of domination they both displayed. —IANS