All roads lead to Kiev

Sadio Mane took advantage of a misplaced Roma pass to put Liverpool ahead nine minutes in and Georginio Wijnaldum restored the advantage with a header after Milner’s own goal.

Edin Dzeko equalised for Roma early in the second half and Radja Nainggolan scored two late goals for the hosts as the Giallorossi narrowly missed out on another miracle after their stunning 3-0 second-leg victory over Barcelona in the quarterfinals.

Madrid beat Bayern Munich 4-3 on aggregate in the other semifinal.

‘‘These fans deserve to be in the final, and they’ll have a great time in Kiev regardless of the result,’’ Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said. ‘‘We ended up losing tonight, but they threw everything at us.’’

Roma was left feeling aggrieved about two penalty decisions that weren’t given.

‘‘The VAR would have given us what was taken from us tonight,’’ Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco said. ‘‘That was ridiculous. But Liverpool certainly didn’t steal anything from us. They played 45 extraordinary minutes [in the first leg] and we played two second halves that were just as extraordinary.’’

The 13 goals scored between the two legs was a record for a Champions League semifinal.

‘‘When two squads play in an open manner like that, it’s more like a boxing match,’’ Di Francesco said. ‘‘There should be more matches like these.’’

Klopp was full of compliments for Roma.

‘‘What a performance, what a comeback. What a brave football game,’’ the German manager said. ‘‘It was the first time we were not as good as we can be. So we needed luck.’’

There were concerns of fan violence surrounding the match after two men from Rome were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following an assault outside the stadium before the first leg in Liverpool.

Supporters of both clubs met at Rome’s City Hall earlier to condemn violence and express solidarity with Sean Cox, the Liverpool supporter who was severely injured in the clashes last week. Afterward, Liverpool players posed near their fans behind a banner that read, ‘‘Sean Cox: You’ll never walk alone.’’