UEFA Champions League | Roma 4 (6) – Liverpool 2 (7)

Roma were conscious that they will need another excellent match at home if they were going to turn this tie round. In fact, they needed at least a 3-0 win in order to go through. On the other hand, Liverpool had the upper hand prior to the match and were hoping to score in order to make the it practically impossible for Roma.

The Italian side started the match on the offensive and went close after six minutes. Florenzi hit a powerful shot from distance that ended up centimetres wide.

However, Liverpool remained calm and managed to go ahead on the 9th minute. Following a mistake by Naingolan, Firmino won the ball and went on a good run down the centre of the pitch. The Brazilian delivered the ball towards Mane whose shot from the left went past Alisson.

Roma equalised on the 15th minute. El Shaarawy headed the ball forward in his attempt to find a team mate. Lovren rifled his clearance straight at Milner and the ball stamped off the midfielder’s face and ended up inside the bottom corner.

A minute later, Mane attempted a low shot from distance that sailed wide.

Liverpool nearly regained their lead on the 24th minute. Robertson served Mane inside the penalty area and the latter saw his close range shot being saved by Alisson.

Klopp’s side managed to regain their lead a minute later. Roma’s defence failed to clear their marks and the ball was knocked down towards Wijnaldum who headed home.

 The post denied Roma on the 34th minute. El Shaarawy’s effort from distance took a deflection off Milner before hitting the woodwork.

Two minutes prior to half-time, Florenzi concluded wide from inside the penalty area.

Knowing that they have a mountain to climb, Roma started the second half looking to equalise and succeeded on the 51st minute. El Shaarawy’s shot was blocked by Karius. The rebound went into the path of Dzeko who placed the ball inside the net.

Roma threatened Liverpool again on the hour mark. An excellent pass from De Rossi was met by Under whose effort was neutralised by Karius.

The Giallorossi created another chance on the 66th minute. Dzeko received the ball in a promising position, but failed to hit the target from close range.

Liverpool were denied by Alisson on the 69th minute. Salah passed the ball towards Firmino whose shot from the right forced an excellent save from the Brazilian goalkeeper.

On the 77th minute, Schick saw his volley from distance going marginally over.

Ten minutes from time, Dzeko won the ball at the expense of Alexander-Arnold and hit a shot that was saved by Karius.

Roma forged ahead for the first time in the match on the 86th minute. Nainggolan fired a powerful shot from distance that gave Karius no chance.

Nainggolan converted from the spot to make the score 4-2 inside the additional time. Klavan was judged to have handled the ball inside the penalty area and the referee pointed towards the spot. From the eleven metres mark, the Belgian made no mistake.

Roma starting line-up: Alisson Becker, Alessandro Florenzi, Konstantinos Manolas, Federico Fazio, Aleksandar Kolarov, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Daniele De Rossi, Radja Nainggolan, Patrik Shick, Edin Dzeko, Stephan El Shaarawy

Liverpool starting line-up: Loris Karius, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dejan Lovren, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mande

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

Assistant Referees: Jure Praprotnik, Robert Vukan

Additional Assistant Referees: Matej Jug, Slavko Vincic

Fourth Official: Tomaz Klancnik