The Italian press believe Roma are capable of pulling off yet another āextraordinaryā comeback to overturn a three-goal deficit and knock Liverpool out of the Champions League semi-finals.
Braces from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, and a goal from Sadio Mane, meant Roma were 5-0 down at Anfield before Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti struck late on to give the Giallorossi a glimmer of hope.
In the quarter-finals unfancied Roma reversed a 4-1 defeat to Barcelona to shock the Catalans at the Stadio Olimpico with an historic 3-0 win.
And the consensus in the Italian sport dailies is that Eusebio Di Francescoās men have every chance of subjecting Liverpool to the same treatment when the clubs reunite next week.
āRoma: three reasons to believe,ā read a headline in La Gazzetta dello Sport, with the paper first noting that the capital club have already pulled off comebacks against Shakhtar Donetsk and Barca.
āāIt can be doneā is the mantra to be repeated between now and May 2.ā
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Secondly, it claimed that Romaās tactical approach was right ā āthe road to follow is that of the first 20 minutes at Anfield, when we saw a tight, attentive and rather aggressive approach in midfield.ā
āTo overturn the result will require that same intensity during the whole 90 minutes.ā
Gazzetta concluded by identifying Liverpoolās relative fragility in defence. The third point read: āThe Giallorossi goals came after Salah was taken off and Liverpool relaxed a bit, but if there is a weak point in (Jurgen) Kloppās team it is hidden behind them ā it is their defensive lapses.ā
Il Corriere dello Sport called for a āpushā at the Olimpico, simultaneously blaming āreferee errorsā in citing an early unpunished foul on Kevin Strootman and a possible offside for Liverpoolās third goal.
An editorial piece read: āIt will certainly not be easy to repeat that display against Barcelona, because the English side have legs, brains and an ability to get the ball forward which can be deadly even when they are playing away from home.
āBut Roma have the right and the duty to dream that they can produce a fantastic double of comebacks in the Champions League.
āThe 70,000 who will gather in the Olimpico will be the first to believe and they know that doing it against this Liverpool team would be even more extraordinary.
āIf they could be there already, those 70,000 fans, they would be. To fire up Roma.ā
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