Roma pulls off a sensational comeback

AS Roma pulled off one of the great Champions League comebacks by knocking Barcelona out with a remarkable 3-0 win in their quarterfinal second-leg on Tuesday, overcoming a 4-1 deficit from the first game to reach the last four on away goals.

Roma’s Kostas Manolas headed the decisive third goal in the 82nd minute, putting the Italians in the semifinals for the first time since they reached the European Cup final in 1984 and making amends for his own- goal in the first-leg at the Camp Nou.

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 host after Dzeko was fouled by 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.

“This would be a great triumph for any team, but for Roma and considering our story in European competitions, it’s truly incredible,” de Rossi told reporters.

“We knew it would be difficult, but we had that little bit of belief. The first leg showed us Barcelona had a lot of quality, but not as much as a few years ago. We knew the gap between us and them wasn’t 4-1.”

Barca fielded the team that thrashed Roma in the first leg with the help of two own goals and was overwhelming favourite to go through but the five-time European champion barely got a foothold in the game after falling behind to Dzeko’s opener.

Roma’s high-pressing

Ernesto Valverde’s side was swamped by Roma’s high pressing and struggled to get hold of the ball as it was bullied in the air by the more physical Italian side, which inflicted the damage with long balls over the top and frequent crosses.

“We weren’t capable in any moment of getting in the game because of how they approached the game,” said Barca coach Valverde. “They were very strong with second balls and we aren’t used to defending like that.”

“It’s difficult to accept this elimination because we had a lot of hope for this season and once again it has escaped us,” said Barca captain Andres Iniesta.

Decisive blows

At the Etihad, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino struck decisive blows to secure a 2-1 win over Manchester City that completed a 5-1 aggregate victory.

Trailing 3-0 from the first-leg City manager Pep Guardiola had said his team needed to produce a “perfect game” if it was to achieve a famous comeback and for 45 minutes it was not far off that level.

Yet it was Liverpool whose approach turned out to be perfect in the circumstances as it followed up some staunch first-half defending to level through Salah in the 56th minute and seal the tie through Firmino 13 minutes from full time, clinching its third win against City this season.

The results: Manchester City 1 (Jesus) lost to Liverpool 2 (Salah 56, Firmino 77). Liverpool won 5-1 on aggregate.

Roma 3 (Dzeko 6, De Rossi 58-pen, Manolas 82) bt Barcelona 0. Aggregate 4-4. Roma won on away goals.