Graeme Souness believes the only way Roma can progress through to the final of this year’s Champions League is if Liverpool’s front three Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino do not play.
Liverpool outplayed Roma on Tuesday night and came out 5-2 winners, but despite their scintillating performance, Roma still have a glimmer of hope of progressing in the tie after scoring two away goals.
“Is the door still open for Roma? Slightly, very slightly,” Souness said, speaking to Jim White on talkSPORT.
“Roma started well but they wilted under the power and the intensity Liverpool play with. They could have done without the two away goals but 5-2, you’ll take that.”
PFA Player of the Year Mohamed Salah netted twice for Liverpool, before Mané added the third and Firmino scored twice to round off the five goal rout of the Italian side.
Souness claims that as long as Liverpool keep these players fit for the game in Rome, they will win the tie overall and progress to the final of the competition, adding: “Unless the three strikers don’t play the second game, I just can’t see Liverpool not going through.
“As long as they’ve got those three strikers on the pitch in the second leg, they’ll get something there.
“I just cannot see it,” Sourness continued, when asked about a Roma comeback. “Whatever game plan they come up with, it’s not just about stopping one player, they’ve got three players who, at any time, can run past you, slip a cute pass in or do something ridiculous. That makes them very dangerous.
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“If one is having a bad day, the other two will chip in. If two are having a bad day the third one will chip in. If all three are at it, good luck, because they aren’t going to deal with them.
“I just can’t see how Roma can stop them from scoring a goal for 90 minutes.”
However, Liverpool must not be complacent in the second leg of the semi final. Roma overturned the same three goal deficit against Barcelona in the last round, which nobody expected. Liverpool’s performance was also far from perfect, and the game made evident that there are still kinks to be ironed out in the Liverpool defence.
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