JURGEN’S FIGHTERS COME OUT SWINGING
Heavyweight start from Reds ...then Roma climb off canvas
MAYBE we should have known this would happen. Roma always concede goals away from home in Europe. That is 17 in six matches outside Italy in the Champions League this season.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have a habit of losing concentration, of switching off, and this means that after one of the most one- sided European semi-final games we can remember, this tie is still alive. Just.
Jurgen Klopp’s team took this semi-final away from Roma in 33 minutes. From 0-0 to 5-0. Even by their standards, it was exhilarating. Yet by the final whistle Roma were back in the contest — in theory at least — and that lent everything a slightly strange feel as thehe sta or stadium emptied.
A 3- 0 win for sta or Roma in the Stadio ao Olimpico a o next Wednesday would take them to Kiev. It is a huge ask but it is worth noting that Eusebio Di Francesco’s teamm are as impressive ve at home as they are feckless away.
Roma have not conceded con be a single goal at home in Europe this season. Two weeks ago they beat Barcelona by the exact same scoreline they now need against Liverpool, while earlier this season they did the same to Chelsea.
Liverpool themselves have been here recently and know how squeaky it can be. Taking a 3-0 lead to Manchester City in the quarter-final, they were a goal down after two minutes of the second leg and would have been two behind by half-time had a second City goal not been incorrectly disallowed. So this tie is slightly more interestingly poised than it may appear. Liverpool are clear favourites after what remains a scintillating European performance on their own ground but their challenge in Italy is clear. Liverpool must go away from home and take the life out of the game. It is not something they are used to, it does not come naturally to them and is not something they are particularly good at. It will present Klopp with a challenge and what will be just as crucial will be the way Roma play. It is unlikely they will be able to repeat last night’s performance and get away with it. When the half time whistle blew, Roma looked as though they might be through wwith this already. Their midfielder Radja Nainggolan stared at the ground as though he could not believe quite how quickly this had fallen apart. Nainggolan and his team mates are in good company. Many have come to An field with hopes of achievement only to find themselves caught up in the ferocity of the Liverpool threshing machine. At Anfield, things can get away from you very quickly indeed. The only sporting analogy that seems anywhere near appropriate is that it must be like walking on to a flurry of heavy weight punches. One moment you are in the fight and the next minute the lights have gone out. Here Roma’s lights and indeed the ambitions of their 48-year-old coach seemed to be shut down for good until their two late goals gave them a fingertip’s grip back on the tie.
Di Francesco was brave and that may yet prove to be his downfall. He clearly wanted to face this challenge like a man and go toe to toe with Liverpool. Years from now, he will no doubt put it down to part of his education but next week he knows he has to find something different because the problem with being brave against Liverpool is that it takes you to the edges of calamity.
It offers your players opportunity but it also exposes them to great risk and after 70 minutes Roma knew all about that.
In the early exchanges Roma were more than competitive but soon they discovered the very real dangers of playing such a high line against a team of sprinters like this one. Over time, it undid them wholly.
Next week in Rome, Di Francesco may find himself betwixt and between. He will need to look for goals but if he asks his team to play with such a bold defensive strategy as he did last night then the chances are that Liverpool will indeed score that vital away goal and score it very quickly indeed.
It may serve Roma’s purpose to try to attack from deeper. Many of the goals conceded by Liverpool recently — two at Manchester United, one at Crystal Palace, two at West Bromwich and now one here — have had their origins in long, high passes from distance or in set-pieces.
Di Francesco will be aware of this and will have taken at least something from the way his team caused uncertainty in the Liverpool penalty area with some pretty rudimentary football at the end of this game.
It seems inconceivable that Roma can pull off one of the European’s games greatest comebacks next week. Equally we must see a different Liverpool. Klopp must have thought his team were already in next month’s final but he would have been wrong.
8 JAMES MILNER’S assist for Firmino was his eighth in the Champions League this season, the joint most in a single campaign with Neymar in 2016-17. In the league, Milner has just three assists all season!