Roma eliminates Barcelona with stunning comeback win
AS Roma pulled off one of the great Champions League comebacks by knocking Barcelona out with a remarkable 3-0 win in their quarterfinal second leg on Tuesday, overcoming a 4-1 deficit from the first game to reach the last-four on the away-goals rule.
Roma’s Kostas Manolas headed the decisive third goal in the 82nd minute, putting the Italians in the semifinals for the first time since they reached the European Cup final in 1984 and making amends for his own-goal in the first leg at the Nou Camp.
Roma forward Edin Dzeko had opened the scoring when he beat the offside trap and latched onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Daniele De Rossi to score in the sixth minute, lifting the hopes of the boisterous home fans in the Olympic Stadium.
Captain De Rossi converted a penalty in the 58th for the host side after Dzeko was fouled by Gerard Pique, giving Roma a deserved second goal after Dzeko and his Czech strike partner Patrik Schick missed two clear chances each before the break.
“This would be a great triumph for any team, but for Roma and considering our story in European competitions, it’s truly incredible,” De Rossi told reporters.
“We knew it would be difficult, but we had that little bit of belief. The first leg showed us Barcelona had a lot of quality, but not as much as a few years ago. We knew the gap between us and them wasn’t 4-1.”
Barca fielded the team that thrashed Roma in the first leg with the help of two own goals and was an overwhelming favorite to go through, but the five-time European champion barely got a foothold in the game after falling behind to Dzeko’s opener.
Ernesto Valverde’s side was swamped by Roma’s high pressing and struggled to get hold of the ball as it was bullied in the air by the more physical Italian side, which inflicted the damage with long balls over the top and frequent crosses.
The visitors’ Sergi Roberto squandered ROMA TEAMMATES Daniele De Rossi (bottom) and Alessandro Florenzi celebrate after beating Barcelona 3-0 on Tuesday night in Italy to capture their Champions League quarterfinal tie 4-4 on aggregate due the away-goals rule and advance to the semifinals. the first chance of the game, but after that Barcelona struggled to respond to Roma’s constant waves of attacks until substitute Ousmane Dembele whistled a long-range shot just over the bar in added time.
“We weren’t capable in any moment of getting in the game because of how they approached the game,” said Barca coach Valverde. “They were very strong with second balls and we aren’t used to defending like that.”
The runaway La Liga leader had not lost in the Champions League this term until visiting Rome, but slumped out at the quarterfinal stage for the third year in a row after being eliminated by Juventus last season and ousted by Atletico Madrid in 2016.
“It’s difficult to accept this elimination because we had a lot of hope for this season and once again it has escaped us,” said Barca captain Andres Iniesta.
It was a reversal of fortune for Barcelona, which last term pulled off the greatest comeback in Champions League history by overcoming a 4-0 loss to Paris Saint Germain.
The Catalans join PSG and AC Milan (eliminated by Deportivo La Coruna in 2004) as the only teams to have been knocked out after winning the first leg by at least three goals.
Liverpool marches into semis by ousting Machester City
Meanwhile, Liverpool showed it has developed defensive steel alongside its attacking flair as it withstood waves of Manchester City attacks to emerge with a 2-1 win and advance 5-1 on aggregate.
Ever since their German manager Juergen Klopp took charge at Anfield 2½ years ago, critics have questioned whether his team had the necessary defensive nous to go with its devastating forward line.
At The Etihad, Pep Guardiola’s wounded team got a boost from a second minute opener, but Liverpool held firm, with a bit of good fortune at times, and the visiting side then completed the job clinically with two second half goals.
“We mature constantly,” Klopp said after the game in which Liverpool became the first team to beat a Guardiola-managed side three times in one season.
“The boys are getting more and more used to this. If you could say something about us in the past, on an average day we lose cheap goals. We’ve worked at that,” said the German.
Guardiola played an attacking lineup, with just three defenders against Liverpool’s front trio, and the gamble looked as if it might pay off in the first half.
“They took all the risks they could take, we needed a bit of luck and a disciplined defending formation. I was not overly happy at halftime to be honest,” said Klopp.
“They could have scored two or three goals in the first half, but it was 100 percent clear that if we won the ball we’d have an opportunity.
“It’s not about perfection it’s about the result, the character, the mentality, really fighting for the result. We defended well, it’s not our best game but we deserved it at the end,” he added. (Reuters)