Four Things We Learned: Kluivert enjoys sparking CSKA showing

Roma yet again produce the goods in Europe

Roma produced yet another positive Champions League performance in their 2-1 ousting of CSKA Moscow. Although they were made to work hard for the win, goals from Kostas Manolas and Lorenzo Pellegrini were enough to secure a vital three points away at the formidable Luzhniki Stadium - where CSKA defeated Real Madrid on Matchday 2, of course - to put Roma in a strong position to progress from the group.

While content with the result, Eusebio Di Francesco insisted there's still plenty of room for improvement, particularly highlighting that his team should've put the game to bed earlier.

"We could have managed the game a lot better and we should have pushed harder to score a third goal," Di Francesco reflected.

"I don't like it when my team settles for what we have. When you try to hold onto a lead you can end up conceding if you give the ball away cheaply. We had the potential and the ability to cause problems for them, as we showed at times. We're good at getting the ball forward quickly and we should have done it more often.

"That's one thing I expect of my team: we mustn't settle for what we have; we have to try and kill the game off. We messed around a bit too much and that's something we mustn't do.”

Kluivert in menacing form

Named man of the match by UEFA, the now-injury free Justin Kluivert emphatically demonstrated what a special player he can be. Full of dynamism and skill, the youngster tormented the home side with his creativity, silky skills, speed and shrewd movement.

Although he didn’t see heaps of the ball, when he did have it, he made things happen with an incisive pass or dangerous dribble. In addition, his clever movement to exploit vacant spaces, promising understanding with his fellow attackers and resolute defensive work only further enhanced his quality effort.

Embarking on three dribbles, making four progressive runs, hitting three key passes, being fouled four times and completing six defensive actions, these figures duly depicted his fantastic contribution.

Manolas and Fazio superb

Physically superior and wide awake to the movement of the diminutive CSKA frontline, especially Fedor Chalov and Arnor Sigurdsson, Manolas and Federico Fazio did an excellent job of blunting the Armeitsy frontline.

Dominating in the air, the duo won all 12 of their attempted aerial duels and combined to chime in with eight interceptions as they read the play and their opponents effectively.

Exercising sound judgement in their decision making, the way they pressed their markers when they dropped deep, dealt with crosses and remained compact through their largely solid positioning ensured the home side's nimble attackers found little joy.

With Fazio looking back to a level resembling his best and Manolas capping off another positive outing with a vital goal, Roma's defensive pairing were instrumental in the victory.

Giallorossi pull apart CSKA's last line of defence

Roma's forwards and midfielders did a super job of manipulating Viktor Goncharenko's side's last line of defence with their elusive, hard to read movement.

By constantly performing rotations, dropping in and out of zones and using opposite movements, Roma were persistently able to disorganise their adversaries' stopping shape and generate gaps to take advantage of.

Indeed, the graphics below evidence their smart off the ball movement that was used so constructively to pull apart CSKA's defensive line prior to Roma's second goal. To start with, Pellegrini drew two markers and Edin Dzeko one tracker to make room for Bryan Cristante to be an option.

Cristante then duly receives Aleksandar Kolarov's wicked pass, which subsequently provokes three men to press him.

This then successfully freed up Pellegrini to latch onto Cristante's pass to fire home the winner.