Roma – Barcelona: Beware of the desperate
(Baonghean.vn) - The 4-1 victory in the first leg helped coach Valverde and his team feel more comfortable before entering the rematch with Roma. But that does not mean all hope for the home team is gone.
If the Italian team wants to win a ticket to the semi-finals, they must defeat Messi and his teammates with a score of 3-0 or with a difference of more than 3 goals. In terms of strength and reputation, Roma is far behind the visitors from Spain. Just look at the results of the last 3 matches (Roma lost 2, drew 1) to see how superior Barcelona is to the home team Roma.
The 1-4 defeat in the match on April 5 clearly reflected the difference in experience and battle spirit in the Champions League arena between the two teams.
To be fair, in the match that took place at Camp Nou a few days ago, Barcelona could not show their dominance against Roma's resilient and reasonable playing style. It was only thanks to own goals from De Rossi and Manolas that the "Catalan giant" was able to break through the scientific defense system of the Italian team.
In the 90 minutes at Camp Nou, luck was on the home team's side and turned away from the team led by coach Di Francesco. Roma lost heavily not because Barcelona played well, but simply because De Rossi and his teammates lacked experience, courage and luck.
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| De Rossi's own goal. Photo: Internet |
Preparing for the return match, coach Di Francesco motivated his players with the statement: “Why can’t there be a miracle? We have the duty to try our best, try to do something important, try our best to protect our flag and shirt. In short, we have the duty to eliminate Barcelona. We prepared very carefully for this match before thinking about the derby with Lazio. There is no problem. Although it is difficult, it is not impossible. The important thing is belief.”
What Mr. Di Francesco shared is completely reasonable. To overcome difficulties, first of all, there must be faith and serious preparation. It is true that the score of 1-4 is not an easy gap to fill and overcome. However, it would be too hasty to affirm that Roma has no chance of "reversing the situation" against Barcelona. Remember, in the past, there was a team that also fell into the same situation as Roma is now. That was Deportivo in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the 2003/2004 season.
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| Barca just won a big victory over Roma in the Champions League. Photo: Internet |
In the first leg at San Siro, Deportivo lost to the home team AC Milan with a score of 4-1. Witnessing the torture of Shevchenko, Pirlo, Kaka, Nesta, Gattuso... for the away team, fans all believed that the ticket to the semi-finals was firmly in the hands of coach Ancelotti and his team.
Yet just 2 weeks later, Deportivo surprised everyone when the home team Riazor defeated the visiting team AC Milan with 4 goals to nil and created one of the most impressive "comebacks" in the history of the C1 Cup/Champions League.
If Deportivo did it 14 years ago, there's no reason why Roma can't do it now. Let's wait and see if it happens, in the match between Roma and Barcelona at the Olimpico stadium at 1:45 am on April 11?