Roma will face Barca with ‘heart, passion and belief’
Roma manager Eusebio di Francesco insisted yesterday that he will field a full-strength team against Barcelona tomorrow, despite trailing 4-1 in their Uefa Champions League quarter-final tie and with an all-important derby against rivals Lazio looming on Sunday.
Own goals from Daniele de Rossi and Kostas Manolas, as well as strikes by Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez, at Camp Nou seven days ago put Barcelona firmly in control of the twolegged contest.
Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko pulled one back for Roma but the Italian club face an uphill task to reach the Champions League semi-finals against a side who have lost just one game in all competitions this season.
To complicate matters, Roma face Lazio four days later in a game that could prove pivotal to both clubs’ hopes of claiming a top four place in Serie A and with it, entry into next season’s Champions League.
The Rome rivals are level on 60 points, with third-placed Lazio one spot above Roma.
Fifth-placed Inter Milan trail by a single point with seven games remaining.
“I think we should choose our strongest line-up tomorrow, it’s important and we must believe,”Di Francesco told a news conference yesterday. “Let’s perform with great heart and passion. We have to honour and respect our club colours, so we’ll give it our all and we deserve the chance to achieve something huge.
“Why not believe until the end and hope we can achieve something unprecedented?
“We’re trailing by three goals, so it’s a really tough ask, but we have the duty to try.
“So, our best team will start tomorrow and then we’ll think about the derby.”
Roma boast a modest record
in Europe’s elite club competition. Since reaching the 1984 European Cup final, where they lost to Liverpool, Roma’s best efforts have been a pair of quarter-final appearances in 2007 and 2008, prior to reaching this year’s last eight.
In comparison, Barcelona are five-time European champions, a record that includes four titles since 2006.
Di Francesco, therefore, was keen to put his team’s chances into context.
“Mentality is something we build at home, at [Roma’s training complex] Trigoria,” he said. “We often speak about a winning mentality, but we’ve not won much at this club, so historically we haven’t really had one.
“You create a winning mentality through a sense of belonging, an identity, consistent work and sticking close to your surroundings.
“These are signs of great progress. People aren’t inspired by rumours but by results.
“We mustn’t fall back on the excuse of the atmosphere around the club, the media and the opinions we hear.
“We have to look after our own house and thereby change the environment around us. We must think that every game is make-or-break, every game is the match of our lives.
“Barcelona’s strength comes from their mentality, which starts from the youth academy and has been built up over the years. They manage games superbly, using the ball well and making few mistakes.
“We forced them into errors in the first leg, but we didn’t take advantage of it. On the other hand, we paid dearly for our mistakes. We want to control the game but not concede.”
For Roma to have any chance of claiming unlikely progress to the semi-finals, the Italians will need to keep Barcelona star Lionel Messi quiet at Stadio Olimpico.
The Argentine forward endured a rare non-goalscoring outing against Roma in the first leg but responded with a hat-trick in Barca’s 3-1 Primera Liga win over Leganes on Saturday.
Messi has now scored 39 goals in all compeitions this season, and Di Francesco is fully aware of the dangers the Argentine possesses.
“Everyone was saying he wasn’t fit and suddenly he scored a hat-trick on Sunday,” he said. “This means we managed to limit his movement between the lines.
“We have to reduce the space around him as much as possible, wherever he pops up on the pitch.”
Roma will be without their own key Argentine, with winger Diego Perotti ruled out, while a late decision will be made on Turkish forward Cengiz Under.
I think we should choose our strongest line-up tomorrow, it’s important and we must believe EUSEBIO DI FRANCESCO Roma manager