LONDON: It was so nearly perfect. If the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League semifinal against Roma had ended after 80 minutes, it would have been hailed as one of the great performances at that stage of the competition, a tie settled when it still had two hours to run.
But it did not, Roma scored twice and so Liverpool return to the site of their 1977 and 1984 European Cup successes with trepidation.
Of course it was still a very fine performance from Liverpool, but the sense of a game slipping from the grasp can play tricks on the mind.
Roma came back from a three-goal first-leg deficit to win in the last round — and this time they have two away goals as security, rather than only one. They are yet to concede a goal at home in five Champions League matches this season, shutting out sides of the quality of Atletico, Chelsea and Barcelona. And in that final 10 minutes at Anfield there was just a whiff of panic from Liverpool. That should give Roma hope.
But realistically not too much of it. Only three times in the Champions League era has a side overturned a three-goal first-leg deficit, and even if teams seem unable to defend anymore and leads are more precarious than they have perhaps ever been, that does not mean Roma can do to Liverpool what they did to Barcelona. Quite apart from anything else, for all Roma’s defensive record, it seems all but inconceivable that they will be able to prevent Liverpool from scoring.
While the Barcelona game will encourage Roma, the situation is very different. For one thing, Roma had played well in Barcelona and had been unfortunate to lose 4-1; in Liverpool, they were very lucky to lose only 5-2. But the key issue is about style of play. Liverpool are relentless and they are quick. They may have been startled by Roma’s press in the early minutes at Anfield, but they responded by pressing back, much harder and much faster, whereas Barca’s response when pressed was to seem a little put out that anybody should try to win a game by running.
There is a decadence to the modern Barca that made them vulnerable. The image of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi casually wandering back as an unchallenged Daniele De Rossi measured the pass over the top that led to the opening goal of Roma’s comeback should haunt the club. Liverpool will not allow the midfielder that amount of time.
But the bigger problem facing Eusebio Di Francesco is how he can chase a three-goal win when Liverpool are so good on the break and, more specifically, when their three forwards are all quicker than any Roma defender. There will, presumably, be a shift back from 3-4-2-1 to 4-3-3 — and Roma did threaten Liverpool wide after adopting their more familiar formation late on at Anfield — and that will deny Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane some of the space they enjoyed on the flanks in the first leg, but that does not alter the fundamental issue of pace.
If Roma press high they become vulnerable to any ball played in behind them. If they do not, they risk the midfield becoming stretched.
Everything is set up for Liverpool to make their eighth European Cup/Champions League final, but momentum can do curious things.
KEY CLASH: Diego Perotti vs Trent Alexander-Arnold
There is a possibility that Diego Perotti will not play, but assuming he does recover from the calf problem that kept him out of Roma’s 4-1 win over Chievo at the weekend, the Argentinian will have a vital role. Left out of the starting line-up at Anfield because of the switch to a back three, Perotti caused problems as soon as he came on, offering a width Roma had lacked as soon as the Liverpool surge had forced the Roma wing-backs on the defensive. To an extent the battle on the flanks will become a game of chicken: If Perotti can check the forward surges of Alexander-Arnold — himself the victim of a dead leg that led to him being taken off midway through the second half of Liverpool’s 0-0 draw against Stoke on Saturday — that will help stifle Salah by denying him support on the overlap.
