Champions League: Resurgent Roma Dump Barcelona Out With Shock Second-Leg Victory At Stadio Olimpico (Photos & Video)

Chris Wright

10th, April 2018

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Barcelona were jettisoned from the Champions League after being blindsided by a shock result few saw coming in the second leg against a Roma side who looked utterly dead and buried going into the match.

The Catalans came into the return fixture boasting a commanding 4-1 aggregate lead but found the deficit reduced with only six minutes gone when Edin Dzeko stormed the gates to put Roma ahead on the night.

Keep any eye out for some very ‘lethargic’ defending from Samuel Umtiti…

Eusebio De Francesco’s resurgent side then doubled their lead through a 58th minute penalty, which captain Daniele De Rossi dispatched after Gerard Pique hauled Dzeko to the ground inside Barca’s 18-yard box…

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De Rossi there, emphatically banishing any residual demons remaining from the outrageous own-goal he managed to smash home in the first leg.

Roma’s incredible comeback was then made certain in the 82nd minute when centre-back Konstantinos Manolas pipped his marker to the near post and glanced a header past a rooted Marc-Andre ter Stegen…

That was enough to tie up the aggregate score at 4-4 and thus send Barca, ever-present Champions League overlords, packing on away goals.

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Roma will now play in a Champions League semi-final for only the second time in their long and storied history, and for the first time since 1983/84.

They will be joined in the draw by Liverpool, who survived an early wobble to eventually quash Man City in Tuesday evening’s other quarter-final tie.

More on that one here.