Roma’s 2nd-leg rally knocks out Barcelona

Roma pulled off an extraordinary comeback to knock Barcelona out of the Champions League on Tuesday, winning 3-0 at home to reach the semifinals by overturning a three-goal deficit from the first leg.

Roma entered the game as a massive underdog after losing the first leg of its quarterfinal 4-1 against a Lionel Messi-led team that was one of the big favorites to win the competition.

Roma advanced on away goals after center back Kostas Manolas scored the decider with a header from a corner in the 82nd minute amid a deafening atmosphere inside the Stadio Olimpico.

“It wasn’t luck. This is what happened,” Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco said. “But this isn’t enough. We can’t be satisfied. This squad needs to aim for (the final in) Kiev. This is an extraordinary squad. Why shouldn’t we aim to get there?”

Di Francesco acknowledged before the match that his team needed a “miracle” to advance, and it got the start it needed when Edin Dzeko controlled an overthe-top pass between two defenders after six minutes and poked in his sixth goal in this season’s competition.

Then near the hour mark, Dzeko earned a penalty that Daniele De Rossi converted to set the stage for Manolas’ late header.

Messi and fellow Barcelona forward Luis Suarez hardly threatened as Roma dominated possession for long stretches and stifled the Catalan club with high pressure.

It’s the first time that Roma has reached the last four since it lost the 1984 final to Liverpool on penalties in its own stadium — and it’s the third straight year that Barcelona has been eliminated at this stage.

Only two clubs previously had overturned at least a three-goal first-leg deficit in the Champions League: Deportivo La Coruna beat AC Milan 4-0 after losing the opening leg 4-1 in the 2004 quarterfinals and Barcelona routed Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 after losing the first game 4-0 in last season’s Round of 16. Liverpool ousts Man City: Liverpool reached the Champions League semifinals after recovering from conceding a goal inside two minutes against host Manchester City to win 2-1, thanks to second-half strikes by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Gabriel Jesus’ early goal raised belief inside Etihad Stadium that one of the most unlikely Champions League comebacks was on, with Liverpool having won the first leg 3-0 at Anfield last week.

Liverpool, which won 5-1 on aggregate, is bidding for its sixth title in Europe’s top competition — and its first since 2005.

It was the latest Champions League failure by City manager Pep Guardiola, who won the competition twice with Barcelona — in 2009 and ’11 — but hasn’t reached the final since then in five seasons with Bayern Munich and City.

Guardiola was sent to the stands for the second half for arguing with referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz during halftime.