Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane reckons Cristiano Ronaldo is on top form as the Portuguese looks to increase his Champions League goals tally when it visits AS Roma in the first leg of their last-16 tie Wednesday. Ronaldo is the competition's leading marksman this season with 11 goals, a record for the group phase. Zidane, a Champions League winner playing for Real in 2002, said Ronaldo was on top of his game after the Portuguese scored twice in Saturday's 4-2 Liga win over Athletic Bilbao. "Cristiano is very important on the wing because when he attacks one-on-one he's very good ... he's very hard to defend against," Zidane added before the game at the Stadio Olimpico. "That's how we scored the first goal (against Athletic)." Left back Marcelo has recovered faster than expected from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss Saturday's home game, was back in training Monday and named in the match squad. "We have to be especially wary of the speed of (Roma's) players because that could hurt us," Real striker Karim Benzema was quoted as saying in Mundo Deportivo. "They're going to play to win because it's a very important game for them at home. We must win too because we know that to qualify the key is the first leg ... If we're at our best we'll win." Isco looks certain to play in central midfield with Zidane saying he gave Mateo Kovacic a game against Athletic to rest the Spaniard, who has been a regular alongside Toni Kroos and Luka Modric under the Frenchman. The match pits two recently appointed coaches against each other after Zidane and Luciano Spalletti took charge last month. Spalletti returned for a second spell at Roma, which is on a run of four wins in Serie A, to replace Rudi Garcia. Spalletti will have been pleased to see striker Edin Dzeko end his three-month scoring drought with a goal in Roma's 3-1 win at Carpi Friday, although the man Real must especially guard against is winger Mohamed Salah, who also netted. In the other encounter VfL Wolfsburg is hoping a morale-boosting Bundesliga win that ended a poor run of results will help its confidence for the Champions League last 16 first-leg game at Gent Wednesday. Last year's German league runner-up and Cup winner is eighth in the standings after a 2-0 victory over Ingolstadt Saturday, its first win in eight Bundesliga games. Wolfsburg did not get past the group stage in their only other Champions League appearance in 2009. Gent, in the Champions League for the first time after being crowned Belgian champion in 2015, was the surprise runner-up in Group H, beating Valencia and Zenit St. Petersburg at home as well as Olympique Lyonnais away. It became the first Belgian side to reach the round of 16 in the Champions League since Anderlecht 15 years ago.
