Roma victory not enough as Liverpool progress to the Champions League final

Liverpool went into the game knowing that barring a collapse of epic proportions, it was they that would be competing with Real Madrid for the title of Europe’s best in Kiev.

And so it proved, with a 4-2 defeat on the night enough for the 'Reds' to advance 7-6 on aggregate, but the Italians deserve credit for dragging the fight out until the very end.

The hosts came out swinging from the off, but were undone on nine minutes by an individual error. Radja Nainggolan played a pass without looking and surrendered possession to Roberto Firmino, with the Brazilian driving forward and feeding Sadio Mane on the overlap to slot beyond Alisson and open the scoring.

 

2 May 2018

However, Roma's spirit wasn't dampened and roared on by a raucous crowd they soon hit back, not that they or James Milner knew much about it.

Stephan El Shaarawy headed a cross from the right back across the box and whilst Dejan Lovren got there first, he could only blast the ball against his team-mate and into the back of his own net.

Roma continued to dominate the possession but more sloppiness at the back allowed Liverpool to take away goals out of the equation. The hosts failed to clear a corner and handed Giorginio Wijnaldum the simple task of heading beyond Alison from eight yards when completely unmarked to put Liverpool back ahead on the night.

At that point, Roma needed four, but they continued to battle and were within inches of one of the strikes they needed as El Shaarawy saw an effort deflect off Milner and onto the post after he cut in from the left.

Liverpool went in at the break seemingly with the game in the bag, but their opponents were still not yet ready to accept defeat.

The hosts should have had a penalty with 49 minutes gone as Edin Dzeko was felled by Loris Karius after being sent clear, but the flag incorrectly went up against the Bosnian for offside.

- Dzeko's lifeline - 

Roma's frustration was short-lived though as just six minutes after the restart Trent Alexander-Arnold made a rare mistake, allowing El Shaarawy to race clear down the left and whilst his effort was saved by Karius, Dzeko was on hand to convert the rebound and bring Roma withing three goals of extra time.

 

2 May 2018

The home side continued to pile forward, with Cengiz Under's prodded effort kept out by Karius, before Roma once again should have been awarded a spot kick, this time for a handball against Alexander-Arnold.

However, Liverpool did well to have a 10-minute spell of their own with 20 minutes to go, which proved key as Roma ran out of time to complete their comeback.

Dzeko was again denied by Karius as the game moved into its final 10 minutes and whilst Nainggolan made amends for his earlier mistake by fizzing a low effort in off the post from range on 86 minutes, Roma always looked short on time.

That proved to be the case, though the home side were finally awarded a penalty in added-on time, though it looked to be a harsh decision on this occasion as substitute Ragnar Klavan adjudged to have handled in the box. Nainggolan did the honours from the spot, but that was the last action of the game as Roma fell one goal short of the miraculous.

The full-time whilst sparked jubilation from the Liverpool players and fans as they booked a showdown with Real Madrid in Kiev on May 26th.

 

2 May 2018