If one were to overlook history and focus solely on current form, Liverpool FC and AS Roma, yesterday, did the unthinkable over Man. City and Football Club Barcelona respectively.
Even with a three-goal deficit from the first leg, Manchester City were still not regarded as the underdogs, as they filed out last night for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final match against eternal rivals Liverpool at the Etihad stadium – home ground of the Citizens.
The aim for Liverpool was to protect the 3-0 lead from Anfield, while Man City needed three goals, without conceding, to tie the game, at least.
Man City drew first blood as their young striker struck in the 2nd minute of the first half. City dominated the game and had spells where they hit the post. Just before halftime City’s Leroy Sane scored what seemed like the second goal for his side, but the referee overturned the goal, stating that he was in an offside position. Truth be told after replay’s it showed that he was clearly onside.
At the half, as the players walked through the tunnels for their half-time team talk, and angry Pep Guardiola had some obviously-not-too-kind word for the referee, which led to him being sent to the stands for the 2nd half.
Liverpool Striker: Mohamed SalahMohammed Salah, who is arguably the best player on the Liverpool side, levelled the game in the 56th minute. With this goal, Man City now had an even bigger task as they needed 5 goals to overcome the deficit with time as their biggest enemy. Realistically the game was over at this point. In the 77th, minute Firmino put the icing on the cake as he put Liverpool ahead on the night with a sublime finish.
The 5-1 aggregate win over their bitter rivals meant that Liverpool booked their spot in the semi-finals of the champions league, heaping more misery on a Man City side that has pretty much been untouchable in all competitions all season.
For Man City, it seems like everything is crumbling at the worst time possible. In their current form, they have lost 3 games in all competitions in seven days, conceding eight goals along the way. They have another uphill battle against Tottenham FC over the weekend to try to put an end to this horrific slump.
… And Barcelona ran out of ideas
If the footballing world thought Man City was in with a chance, nobody accorded such luxuries to Italy’s AS Roma. They were up against the mighty Barcelona of Lionel Messi, and were already 4-1 goal-drunk from the first leg.
In a game that was tagged “Mission Impossible” for Roma, it ended 4-4 on aggregate. At 4-1 up against Roma, in a competition that they have won several times, everyone around the world was anticipating who Barcelona would face in the semi-finals. The away goal rule, however, would play in Roma’s favour as their all-important away goal at the Camp Nou in the 4-1 first leg defeat ultimately meant that they booked their place in the semi-finals of the Champions league with their 3-0 win. Roma overwhelmed Barcelona from start to finish in this thriller.
AS Roma Players JubilatingDe Rossi, AS Roma’s top scorer in the Italian Serie A, inspired their side in this sensational comeback. De Rossi set up Dzeko’s 6th-minute goal in the first half. He then went on to slot in a 58th-minute penalty after Dzeko was brought down in the box by Pique. At this point the tension in the Stadio Olimpico was tense, one goal from either side will see them go through. An 82nd-minute corner glanced off the head of Manolas and into the goal to give Roma the 3-0 lead that they needed to get into the next round. This game was sweet redemption for scorers De Rossi and Manolas who’s own goals in the first leg could have come back to haunt them hadn’t they pulled off this feat.
The scenes after this extremely entertaining game was that of two extremes. On one side, Roma fans rejoiced as they witnessed their team pull off one of the best comeback wins in the history of the Champions League against arguably the best team in the world, while Barcelona fans wept as their complacent team blew a 4-1 aggregate lead.
For Barcelona, this was a case of getting a taste of their medicine. Last season in the competition, they beat PSG 6-1 in the second leg to advance to the quarterfinals on a 6-5 aggregate win after being thrashed 4-0 by PSG in the first leg.