Roma stun Barca with 3-goal blitz
PEP RED CARDED: AS LIVERPOOL SEND CITY PACKING
Salah again finds back of the net – for 39th time this season.
Rome
AS Roma pulled off one of the great Champions League comebacks by knocking Barcelona out with a remarkable 3-0 win in their quarter-final second leg last night, overcoming a 4-1 deficit from the first leg to reach the semi-finals on away goals.
Roma’s Kostas Manolas headed the decisive third goal in the 82nd minute, putting the Italians in the last four for the first time since they reached the European Cup final in 1984.
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 hosts after Dzeko was fouled by Barcelona stalwart 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.
Mohamed Salah last night also ensured Liverpool’s return to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in a decade as a 2-1 win over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium took them through 5-1 on aggregate.
It was a night of high frustration for City, with manager Pep Guardiola sent off at half-time for taking his furious protests towards Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz too far.
City led the quarter-final, second leg 1-0 on the night at that stage after Gabriel Jesus’s second-minute opener, but the hosts felt aggrieved after Leroy Sane had a second goal wrongly disallowed just before the break.
Salah ensured there was to be no stunning comeback when he coolly chipped home his 39th goal of the season 11 minutes into the second half before Roberto Firmino sealed a comprehensive aggregate triumph for the five-time winners. –