Rome daily Il Messaggero called it: “the heinous ability to do ourselves harm”. Roma walked away dazed and confused from the Camp Nou on Wednesday night, 4-1 down from the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal with Barcelona and with one foot already out of the competition. But rather than being a victim of a trademark Barca blitz the thumping defeat was largely their own doing.
Reeling from being denied at least one penalty and a goal down thanks to a sliding own goal from captain Daniele De Rossi that flew past a surprised Alisson seven minutes before half-time, Roma could nonetheless take heart from their first-half display, which was full of the vigour and drive that their previous knockout clashes with Europe’s big guns had lacked. The thing to do, everyone agreed, was continue in the same manner in the second half and hope to snatch an away goal or even a result.
That goal eventually came, inevitably through Edin Dzeko, but by that time there were only 10 minutes left and Roma were 3-1 down having scored another own goal, a masterclass in physical tragicomedy from Kostas Manolas that saw the Greek first hit the post and then knee the ball into his own net on the rebound. The defender’s face, taken from the images of the replay from behind the goal, amply illustrate the seven stages of football grief.
However, Roma had their tails up and Barca on the back foot after the Bosnian’s deserved goal, and even before Dzeko struck the Giallorossi were exchanging blows on an equal footing with Messi’s gang. The positivity was flowing.
But then, it happened again.
Denis Suarez found space on the left of the Roma area and slid an innocuous low cross towards the penalty spot, nowhere near a teammate and straight at Maxime Gonalons. Suffering not so much from feet made of lead but of reinforced dark matter, the Frenchman miscontrolled the ball and in the process laid on the perfect assist for Luis Suarez, a man who doesn’t often waste uncontested shots on goal deep in the penalty box.
Roma were back to three goals down and dead — victims of a footballing hara-kiri that would have shocked anyone not versed in Roma history. To seasoned fans, however, this feeling was all too familiar.
Coach Eusebio Di Francesco took heart from the manner of the display, while Dzeko blasted the officials for not awarding a spot kick for a foul on the striker while the match was still goalless, but the season has been shorn of glamour and a Champions league campaign that has contained the season’s biggest highlights has finally come to an end.
Now, starting with the visit of Fiorentina on Saturday, it’s back to the bread and butter. Or, if you like a tortured translation, the pane e olio.
With Europe out of the way and their run without a trophy set to extend to a decade at the end of a season, Roma now need to make sure that they get another taste of Champions League action next season. Last week’s flop draw at Bologna allowed both Inter and Lazio to close the gap on Di Francesco’s side, and Fiorentina will not be easy opposition on Saturday.
The Viola come into the game having won five on the bounce and rather than sink into depression they seem to have been galvanised by the tragic death of captain Davide Astori last month, scoring eight and conceding just twice during that stretch. This is by far Fiorentina’s best spell of the season and their recent run of good results has them with an outside shout of bagging a spot in the Europa League next season.
Stefano Pioli’s side are one of three teams level on 47 points and four behind sixth-placed AC Milan. There’s little chance of them catching Lazio in fifth and bagging direct qualification for the group stage, as the Biancocelesti are on 57 points, just once win behind Roma with the Rome derby coming up next weekend.
Even closer behind Roma are Inter — or rather, Mauro Icardi — who missed the chance to leapfrog Roma into third when they drew the Milan derby just hours before Roma chucked their UCL semifinal ambitions in the bin. Another bout of self-immolation this weekend and Di Francesco will have more than just a bashing from Barcelona to worry about.
Terry is based in Rome and is ESPN FC’s AS Roma blogger. Twitter: @T_Daley
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