Nicolo Zaniolo acknowledged Real Madrid's opening goal had left Roma reeling, as the Giallorossi suffered a 2-0 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday night.

Gareth Bale scored moments after half-time to change the course of the contest, despite Roma enjoying the best of the first half and creating a number of good chances.

Lucas Vazquez then completed the scoring to confirm Real Madrid's progression as winners of Group G.

Roma are also through to the last-16, after Viktoria Plzen drew with CSKA Moscow earlier in the day.

"It wasn't a problem of fitness, for me it was mental," Zaniolo said, when asked about the game of two halves.

"In the first half we played really well, but in the second half the goal left us reeling. Now we need to work hard to improve because we play Inter and we need to win."

He added: "We didn't take our chances and they did - when they had an opening they took advantage. We missed our chances and they didn't. We need to be better in front of goal."

The game against Inter will have special significance for Zaniolo, after joining from the Nerazzurri in the summer.

"It'll be the first time I face them," he noted.

"I hope that we are able to come away with a good result - to relaunch ourselves and get out of this bad run of form."