In one night, Manchester United and Barcelona FC have both been shockingly kicked out of the UEFA’s Champions League game.
Barcelona FC was 90 minutes away from a return to the Champions League semifinals, but if failed to finish off Roma and is shockingly on the outside looking in for Europe’s final four.
Edin Dzeko, Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas scored, while Roma neutralized Lionel Messi and advanced to the Champions League semifinals on the away goal tiebreaker after a 3-0 win on the day and a 4-4 aggregate draw.
Barcelona carried a 4-1 edge into the second leg of their quarterfinal, thanks to two Roma own goals and strikes from Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez. But Roma was given a brief lifeline from Dzeko, whose away goal proved valuable in factoring into the result.
Dzeko was the one to kick-start Roma’s comeback attempts. After Barcelona carved out a pair of early chances, Dzeko brought Roma within 4-2 on aggregate with a classy finish in the sixth minute, restoring hope in the Italian capital.
The goal came moments later, though. Manolas, whose own goal helped contribute to the deficit, scored off a glancing header on a corner kick, making it 3-0 on the day and putting Roma ahead via the away goal tiebreaker.
Daniele De Rossi did the honors from the penalty spot, firing a blast by ter Stegen, making it 4-3 Barcelona on aggregate. With the away goal from the first leg, Roma just needs one more to shockingly send Barcelona tumbling out of the competition.
Man City vs Liverpool
Liverpool reached their first Champions League semi-final for 10 years after coming from behind to win at Manchester City and secure a 5-1 aggregate win.
City made the perfect start as they tried to reel in a 3-0 deficit from the first leg when Raheem Sterling set up Gabriel Jesus for a cool finish after only two minutes – but they never recovered from a contentious incident just before half-time that saw manager Pep Guardiola sent off.
Bernardo Silva had struck the post and with Liverpool under intense pressure, Leroy Sane scrambled home what City thought was a crucial second.
The goal was ruled out for offside even though the ball appeared to come off Liverpool’s James Milner and G.uardiola marched on to the pitch in an explosion of fury to remonstrate with referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz. The outburst saw him forced to watch the second half from the stands.
With Guardiola away from his technical area, City lost momentum and the visitors delivered the killer blow of the away goal when, inevitably, Mohamed Salah chipped in his 39th goal of the season after a powerful run by Sadio Mane in the 56th minute.
Roberto Firmino’s classy finish 13 minutes from time completed the formalities and Liverpool will now have their sights set on a sixth triumph in Europe’s elite competition.
The Reds will discover their semi-final opponents when the draw is made on Friday.