Roma want to copy and paste Barca miracle
ROMA boss Eusebio di Francesco says his side need to “copy and paste” their Barcelona miracle if they are to reach the Champions League final.
The Italian admitted the cards were stacked in Liverpool’s favour after they put five past his side, but insisted two late strikes at Anfield gave them something to cling to.
Roma’s hopes of reaching the semifinals looked similarly doomed after a 4-1 first-leg defeat at Barcelona.
Yet a superb comeback saw them win 3-0 in the Stadio Olimpico – a repeat of which tonight would be enough to book their passage for the final in Kiev this month.
“I would do a copy and paste. In order to compete against a rival such as Liverpool, we need to raise the bar in terms of physical effort, attitude, approach to the game and trying to score an early goal to have the fans behind us even more,” said Di Francesco.
“Man City made a good start to the game in the second leg [against Liverpool] but we need to stay as focused as possible if we are to complete this comeback. I would like to make something clear – we are about to play a Champions League semi-final in front of 70,000 people, so do you expect us to sit back? No.
“You have to expect a fighting team, you want to see a team battling on the pitch regardless of the score. What I expect is enthusiasm, passion and desire to go past this hurdle.”
Midfielder Radja Nainggolan believes the comeback is on.
“We all know it will be difficult, but it was difficult against Barcelona and we did it. We need to believe,” he said.
“It will be more difficult than against Barcelona because this is a physically better team. For us, the only thing we need to try is trying to score three goals and not concede.”
Roma are likely to be missing the influential Kevin Strootman after the Holland midfielder failed to recover from a knock to his leg sustained at Anfield.
“We need to improve tremendously compared to the first leg,” said Di Francesco. “Some mistakes are inevitable but we need to try to make as few as possible.”