By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
Roma defender Kostas Manolas sent the entire Stadio Olimpico to a delirious frenzy on Tuesday night with a stunning header in the 82nd minute as the Italian club sent Barcelona crashing out of the Champions League with a 3-0 win and advance to Europe’s final four with a 4-4 aggregate victory on away goals.
After losing the first leg of the quarterfinals 4-1, Roma was facing extremely tall odds of pulling a comeback against the La Liga leaders.
But striker Edin Dzeko refused to let his club just wither away, scoring an early goal for Roma just 6 minutes after kickoff.
Daniele de Rossi scored Roma’s second goal of the night via a penalty at the 58th minute after Barcelona and Spain centerback Gerard Pique was whistled a foul against Dzeko inside the penalty area.
Roma kept pushing and working and the hardwork finally paid off for the Italian side after Manolas headed in a corner at the 82nd minute to complete the comeback win.
Roma became just the 12th team in 63 years to recover from 3-goal deficit after the first leg.
This will be Roma’s first foray to the semifinals of Europe since 1984, where they finished as runners-up against English club Liverpool.
