After shooting themselves in the foot at the Camp Nou last week, Roma take to the Stadio Olimpico pitch on Tuesday hoping to summon the s...
After shooting themselves in the foot at the Camp Nou last week, Roma take to the Stadio Olimpico pitch on Tuesday hoping to summon the spirit of October's bashing of Chelsea while reinvigorating a downtrodden fan base staring Champions League elimination in the face.
The Giallorossi have to look back 30 years to the last time they overturned a serious first-leg deficit -- when they beat Partizan Belgrade 2-0 in the 1988 UEFA Cup after losing 4-2 in the Serbian capital -- and few expect them to go one better and haul back the 4-1 deficit they take to the second leg in Rome. Least of all at a stadium where they haven't looked comfortable all season.
Eusebio Di Francesco's side were booed off at half-time and at the end of Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Fiorentina, which was their seventh home loss of the season. With Lionel Messi coming to the Eternal City fresh from a weekend hat trick, Roma are one loss away from equalling a club record for home defeats that has stood for seven decades.
"We have to believe in something important and go for it with great love and passion. They will play their best to confirm the result but we can also produce a miracle," Di Francesco said to the media pre-match. "It's difficult, but we have to believe. We stopped Messi [in the first leg] and we have to try to do it again tomorrow."
Roma fans will hope that Radja Nainggolan, who was invisible at the weekend, will show up on Tuesday and offer the dynamism that their team's midfield has so often lacked this season. Even more important could be the return of Cengiz Under, who was in great form before being sidelined by injury and showed a creativity that Roma will desperately need if they are to pull off that miracle.
One of the things working to Roma's advantage is that their home form has been much better in Europe than in Serie A. They are unbeaten at home in the Champions League and haven't conceded a single goal in those four matches, while Barca have scored just twice away from the Camp Nou.
Had Roma not put Barca two up with a brace of comedic own goals, the first leg would have had a completely different look. Roma were good value for at least a draw looking at the chances created by both sides, and once Edin Dzeko made it 3-1, they looked very much in the tie. It was Maxime Gonalons clumsily laying on Luis Suarez just as Roma had their tails up that has the Italians hoping for a performance like the one against Chelsea in the group stage and the continuation of a European campaign that has brought the season's best moments.
Those two magnificent performances against the outgoing Premier League champions gave Romanisti the hope (though false, as it turned out) that this year could be something special, while those who were at the Olimpico for the second leg against Shakhtar Donetsk will know how good it feels to overturn a first-leg deficit -- even if it was only one goal.
The 3-0 thrashing of Chelsea in the group stage remains the best performance of the season so far, alongside last month's brilliant 4-2 win at Scudetto-chasing Napoli, and that bar will need to be raised on Tuesday.
Roma converted half of their shots on target that night, two of which were incredible long-range strikes from now out-of-form Stephan El Shaarawy and Diego Perotti. Meanwhile on Saturday, Roma had 23 shots and conceded just three, but still contrived to go goalless and lost by two goals. A similar lack of clinical finishing on Tuesday will surely be punished even more enthusiastically.
Lazio await on the horizon, and with both Roman clubs and Inter all within one point of one another and battling over two Champions League spots, Roma need a morale booster before a derby that could make or break this oddest of seasons.
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