Coach Di Francesco dares to dream
Rome – AS Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco says his team must aim for a “miracle” against Liverpool with the Italian club trailing 5-2 ahead of tonight’s Champions League semifinal second leg (8.45pm).
Roma came back from a 4-1 deficit in their quarterfinal against Barcelona by winning the return leg in the Italian capital 3-0.
“We must have belief and with this mentality, with these fans and this passion around the team, try to perform another miracle – and saying miracle is perfectly fine,” Di Francesco told reporters yesterday.
“Liverpool are really dangerous and they can hurt you as soon as you give them an inch.
I want to clarify one thing – in a Champions League semifinal in front of 70 000 people, do you expect a team just to yield?
No, we’ve got to be a battling team who give all they can – then the game can end 4-1 either way, but what I want to see is enthusiasm and desire to go beyond the limits,” he said.
Roma have not conceded a goal at home in this year’s Champions League campaign.
Liverpool’s former Roma forward Mohamed Salah scored twice in the first leg and created two other goals as he ripped apart Di Francesco’s defence.
“Mohamed Salah has outstanding quality when they go long – but we can’t put three men on Salah. We’ve got to have the strength to put the right importance on our opponents, but also think of ourselves,” Di Francesco said, adding that his team needed a similar display from striker Edin Dzeko.
Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan said the late goals the Serie A side scored at Anfield gave them hope.
“In games like these, they can hurt you in a flash – we’ve got to focus for 90 minutes and try to overturn the tie. We know it will be difficult but it was difficult against Barcelona and we did it.”