Liverpool suffered a first defeat this season at Roma, but did enough to reach their eighth European Cup final.
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Liverpool survived a Roma onslaught in the Stadio Olimpico to reach an eighth European Cup final after a tie that equalled the record for the most goals in a two-legged UEFA Champions League contest.
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THE MATCH AS IT HAPPENED
Trailing 5-2 after the game on Merseyside, Roma’s hopes of mounting another remarkable comeback suffered a knock within nine minutes as Radja Nainggolan’s pass was cut out by Roberto Firmino, and the Brazilian slid through for Sadio Mané to shoot past Alisson Becker.
Within six minutes Roma were revived in bizarre circumstances, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s clearance ricocheting off James Milner and back past Loris Karius to leave the Giallorossi needing three goals once more. Although Alisson denied Mané with his feet, that became four in the 25th minute, Edin Džeko heading a corner into the path of Georginio Wijnaldum, who nodded his first UEFA Champions League goal.
Milner nearly inadvertently helped Roma back into it again as he got in the way of Stephan El Shaarawy’s effort, the ball spinning away from Karius and against the left-hand post. The goalkeeper was called into action again early in the second half, pushing away El Shaarawy’s shot only as far as Džeko, who buried the rebound.
Substitute Cengiz Ünder, El Shaarawy and Džeko again all went close as Roma pressed, while it took a smart Alisson stop to prevent Firmino restoring Liverpool’s lead on the night. With four minutes left Nainggolan found the net from range via a post, and then smashed in a penalty in the final seconds after Ragnar Klavan had been penalised, but time ran out for Roma.
Key player: Edin Džeko (Roma)
His goals have fuelled Roma’s pursuit of a dream trip to Kyiv and it seemed only right that he scored again on this, the Giallorossi’s final night in Europe this season. The Bosnian has scored in five straight #UCL games and while this goal was not as valuable as his others, it still showed his class as one of Europe’s top predators, underlined time and time again this season.
Key stats
13 goals in the tie equals the UCL record: Bayern 12-1 Sporting in 2008/09
Liverpool’s third UCL final, and first since 2007
Reds lost last unbeaten record in this season’s competition
Klopp’s side havescored 40 goals in 2017/18 UCL
Mané has nine goals in his last eight UCL appearances
Nainggolan scored his first UCL goals in his 24th outing
Džeko has now scored in five successive UCL matches
