Roma v Barcelona – Story of the match

Posted Wednesday, April 11, 2018 by PA

Roma secured a dramatic 3-0 victory over Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico to book their place in the Champions League semi-finals on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate result.

Trailing 4-1 after the first leg, Roma went ahead on the night after six minutes as Edin Dzeko latched on to Daniele de Rossi’s long-range pass before poking the ball beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

De Rossi doubled their lead from the penalty spot after Dzeko had been brought down in the box early in the second half and Kostas Manolas headed in late on to clinch Roma’s spot in the final four.

Tweet of the match

Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!
FT | #RomaBarca 3⃣-0⃣ (4-4 – Roma win on away goals) pic.twitter.com/9JjrofW1pp
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) April 10, 2018

Star man – Edin Dzeko

Game on?
Edin Džeko gives Roma an early lead with his 6th goal in 10 #UCL games this season. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/9Mvd82FRyU
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 10, 2018

Barcelona’s defenders struggled to deal with the former Manchester City forward all night. He led the line superbly from start to finish and was a threat both in the air and on the ground. Dzeko made a difficult finish look easy as he opened the scoring in the first half, while he won the penalty for Roma’s second.

Moment of the match

Rome. Is. Rocking. 😮
It''s now Roma 2-0 (3-4 agg) Barca after De Rossi smashes home a penalty.
They only need one more! 👀 pic.twitter.com/hsBoOz23IP
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 10, 2018

Roma’s fans faced an anxious wait after Dzeko was brought down by Gerard Pique in the 58th minute but after a few moments’ hesitation, the referee pointed to the spot. And the Roma captain nervelessly converted from 12 yards to give the lively hosts hope of completing their comeback.

Stats of the day

Roma = semi-finalists for first time since 1983/84 👏👏👏#UCL pic.twitter.com/6NVzXSvnWa
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 10, 2018

Roma are through to the final four of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in 34 years after a quarter-final tie that will live long in the memory. The capital city club have now kept five clean sheets in their last five Champions League home games.

Player ratings

Roma: Alisson 7, Juan Jesus 6, Federico Fazio 7, Kostas Manolas 7, Aleksandar Kolarov 8, Radja Nainggolan 7, Daniele De Rossi 8, Kevin Strootman 6, Alessandro Florenzi 7, Patrik Schick 6, Edin Dzeko 9. Substitutes: Cengiz Under (for Schick, 72) 7, Stephan El Shaarawy (for Nainggolan, 72) 7.

Barcelona: Marc-Andre ter Stegen 7, Nelson Semedo 6, Samuel Umtiti 6, Gerard Pique 6, Jordi Alba 6, Sergio Busquets 6, Sergi Roberto 6, Ivan Rakitic 5, Andres Iniesta 6, Luis Suarez 5, Lionel Messi 6. Substitutes: Andre Gomes (for Iniesta, 81) 6, Paco Alcacer (for Busquets, 85) 6, Ousmane Dembele (for Nelson Semedo, 85) 6.