Roma were thrashed 5-2 by Liverpool at Anfield, but the Italian media still sees a glimmer of hope.
The Giallorossi were repeatedly undone by their former player Mohamed Salah, but late goals from Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti leave them in with a slim chance.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s side lost 4-1 at Barcelona in the quarter-finals, only to win 3-0 at the Olimpico and progress, and the same result is needed in the second leg of this one.
“It didn’t end at Anfield, not yet,” wrote Gazzetta dello Sport.
Roma were thrashed 5-2 by Liverpool at Anfield, but the Italian media still sees a glimmer of hope.
The Giallorossi were repeatedly undone by their former player Mohamed Salah, but late goals from Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti leave them in with a slim chance.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s side lost 4-1 at Barcelona in the quarter-finals, only to win 3-0 at the Olimpico and progress, and the same result is needed in the second leg of this one.
“It didn’t end at Anfield, not yet,” wrote Gazzetta dello Sport.
“It had long been a massacre, an endless agony. Roma literally at the mercy of Salah, a man possessed who scored two goals, provided two assists and who nobody managed to see, let alone stop. A monster.
“The semi-final could have ended here without the return meaning anything, a humiliating technical knockout. But Roma, in the only merit of an evening where everything went wrong, starting from Di Francesco’s choices, didn’t give up.”
While Roma did overturn a 4-1 loss in the first leg against Barcelona, this was seen in a very different light.
“Di Francesco understood, better late than never, that the three-man defence was suicide and he tired with 4-4-2,” Corriere della Sera writes.
“So the disaster became a defeat and the return on May 2 will not be totally useless. Dzeko scored his seventh goal and Perotti converted a penalty won by Nainggolan. The people can fill the Olimpico, hoping for another crazy comeback.
“But those who saw the two games will have noticed the difference: the 1-4 in Barcelona was unjust – with the referee’s mistakes and bad luck – last night at Anfield was reflective of the match.”
La Repubblica admitted Roma were “at the mercy of the opponents for 45 minutes between 25 and 70” but after the two late goals “a Barcelona-style comeback will be needed but, after all, dreaming costs nothing”.
The newspaper’s match report concludes “it will be very hard, but Roma have already shown they know what to do with miracles”.
Maurizio Crosetti wrote that Roma "seemed to be in a Stephen King story, if he had been sleeping badly due to indigestion, and got up to start writing instead."
“It could have been a humiliation, instead it was only a heavy but not definitive defeat,” writes Corriere dello Sport.
“The road to the final is impervious, but anything can still happen. Messi’s Barcelona know something about that.”