City threatened, then along came Salah
After two minutes, the comeback was on.
Manchester City scored the early goal it needed. Just two more for one of the great Champions League fightbacks. Then Mohamed Salah intervened.
With a typically deft finish, Salah made it 39 goals in a stunning first season at Liverpool and turned a potentially hazardous situation into a stroll at Etihad Stadium.
Liverpool weathered a ‘‘whirlwind’’ start from City - as manager Juergen Klopp described it - to win 2-1 in the second leg of their breathless quarterfinal and advance 5-1 on aggregate yestrerday.
``I really think they are the best team in the world at the moment,’’ Klopp said of City. ‘‘But I knew we could beat them. That doesn’t make us the better team, but it’s football. It’s the cool thing in the game, that it’s still possible.’’
City’s players gave it everything but were left in a precarious position because of the 3-0 loss in the first leg at Anfield and, crucially, its lack of an away goal.
Gabriel Jesus’ goal raised belief inside Etihad Stadium that City could do what only two teams had done before tonight and overturn at least a three-goal first-leg deficit in the Champions League knockout stage.
City hit the post through Bernardo Silva and had a goal by Leroy Sane incorrectly disallowed for offside in the last minutes of the first half.
‘‘At halftime, we said if we scored a goal it would change the atmosphere,’’ Klopp said.
Enter Salah. In the 57th minute, the Egypt forward pounced on a loose ball in City’s area after goalkeeper Ederson Moraes saved at the feet of Sadio Mane. Salah skipped round Ederson and showed composure to lift his shot over sprawling City defender Aymeric Laporte near the goalline.
With City now needing four goals in barely half an hour to advance, Liverpool knew a spot in the last four for the first time in 10 years was there for the taking. Roberto Firmino made sure of it by curling in the team’s second goal in the 77th.
‘‘They are a tough team with a top manager,’’ City manager Pep Guardiola said of Liverpool. ‘‘I would say they deserve to get in the final.’’
Surprisingly, Roma joined Liverpool in the semifinals by doing what City couldn’t and delivering one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s recent history, beating Barcelona 3-0 to advance on the away-goals rule at 4-4.
After goals by Edin Dzeko and Daniele De Rossi, center back Kostas Manolas scored the decisive goal with a header from a corner in the 82nd minute at the Stadio Olimpico.
Roma had begun the comeback early when Dzeko controlled an over-the-top pass between two defenders and poked in after six minutes for his sixth goal in this season’s competition.
Then near the hour mark, Dzeko earned a penalty that De Rossi converted.
Barcelona’s superstar strikers Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez barely threatened as Roma dominated possession for long stretches and stifled the Catalan club with high pressure.