Sid Lowe's match report
Barcelona will travel to Rome knowing that their Italian opponents will need an extraordinary turnaround next Tuesday. Roma haven’t been in a European Cup final since 1984 and it seems that their long wait will go on after Luis Suarez’s late goal gave Barcelona a three-goal lead to take into the second leg. That should be too big a hurdle for Roma to overcome. Yet there could have been a very different feel. Roma were in it after Edin Dzeko made it 3-1 near the end, only for a dreadful error from Federico Fazio to gift a goal to Suarez, who had been pretty poor for most of the night. That twist had a feeling of finality to it. Barcelona didn’t flow and Lionel Messi didn’t score, but they ruthlessly capitalised on moments of good fortune and will be confident of going through. That’s all from me tonight. Thanks for reading. Bye.
Full-time: Barcelona 4-1 Roma
That’s that.
90 min+3: There will be three added minutes.
90 min: Defrel’s fouled 25 yards from goal. Kolarov fancies this. Roma desperately need this after that Fazio howler. But the left-back’s curling effort is too high.
89 min: Fazio, though!
GOAL! Barcelona 4-1 Roma (L Suarez, 87 min)
Paulinho feeds Semedo on the right. His chipped cross is pushed away by Alisson. Denis Suarez picks up possession on the left. He pings a low ball into the middle. Fazio decides he’s got all the time in the world and takes a touch. Why not? It’s a dreadful piece of defending. The ball comes to Luis Suarez, who ruthlessly rams it low past Alisson. That is pathetic from the Roma centre-back, who’s ruined his team’s good work.
Updated
86 min: Kevin Strootman pulls Messi back. Yellow card.
85 min: Barcelona make their final change, Denis Suarez trotting on in place of the marvellous Andres Iniesta.
84 min: Messi spins and tries to release Suarez. Alisson storms out of his area to clear.
83 min: Andre Gomes replaces Sergi Roberto.
82 min: Alba pulls a cross back to Messi, who leans back and wallops it over in the style of Andy Carroll.
GOAL! Barcelona 3-1 Roma (Dzeko, 80 min)
Undeterred by Ter Stegen’s acrobatics, Roma keep pushing. They look invigorated now. Perotti dribbles inside from the left, looks up and slithers a ball into the area. It makes it way through to Dzeko, who turns and holds off Alba before pushing a low finish to Ter Stegen’s right. Roma have the away goal and this tie is alive again!
Updated
78 min: Bored, Ter Stegen tries a bit of skill with the ball at his feet. He’s good, but he’s not that good and he ends up losing it under pressure from Dzeko, leaving his team in big trouble. El Shaarawy lifts the ball into the area and Defrel brings it down. He looks certain to score. But who’s charging back into his goal? It’s Ter Stegen, who makes a wondrous save to deny the substitute. He’s at it again moments later, soaring to his right to push Perotti’s thunderous drive from 25 yards over.
Updated
77 min: Roma make their final change, Gregoire Defrel replacing Daniele de Rossi, the scorer of the first own goal. It’s probably no consolation to the veteran that he’s respectfully applauded off.
76 min: Ter Stegen claims Kolarov’s corner. This tie is in dire need of a Roma goal.
75 min: Semedo overruns the ball and Perotti is able to storm down the right. He cleverly cuts the ball back to Strootman, but Pique deflects the Dutchman’s shot over.
74 min: Suarez looks slow. That is all.
72 min: Stephan El Shaarawy replaces Alessandro Florenzi.
69 min: Rakitic drills a sumptuous pass from left to right, looking for Sergi Roberto. The midfielder scampers on to it and pulls the ball back to Messi, who disappointingly shoots straight at Alisson. Roma look beaten at the moment.
67 min: Rakitic sends the corner to Messi, who’s 25 yards out and ambitious enough to try something special, but the little magician is no Paul Scholes.
Updated
66 min: Peres heads Messi’s ball to Suarez behind for a corner. That’s the cue for Paulinho to replace Sergio Busquets.
64 min: No. Well, not yet.
63 min: Roma force a couple of corners. Can they haul themselves back into the tie?
62 min: Roma desperately need to score. You can’t see them turning this round in the second leg unless they salvage something here.
61 min: Maxime Gonalons replaces Lorenzo Pellegrini.
GOAL! Barcelona 3-0 Roma (Pique, 59 min)
With Roma forced to commit men forward, there’s space for Barcelona on the break. Messi skips down the right and he has time and space to make up his mind. He chooses a ball with the outside of the left boot to Suarez, who’s unmarked on the left. He cuts inside and tries to find the far corner with a low shot. Alisson pushes the ball out, but Roma’s luck isn’t in tonight. Pique’s there to tap home the rebound. This has escalated quickly.
Updated
58 min: Rakitic, looking to take this tie away from Roma, shoots from 20 yards. Alisson dives to his left to save adroitly.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 Roma (Manolas own goal, 55 min)
The corner’s taken short. Rakitic dribbles inside and plays a one-two with Messi, two Roma defenders drawn to the ball. Here’s trouble. Rakitic skips to the byline and drives a low ball into the middle. Umtiti attacks it, but the stretching Manolas turns the ball against the right post. The ball pings back, hits Umtiti and goes in off Manolas. Poor Roma. They trail thanks to two messy own-goals.
Updated
55 min: Iniesta has a shot deflected wide for a corner.
53 min: Thing is, though, it doesn’t take much for Barcelona to increase their threat. Iniesta suddenly glides through the middle and slips a pass to the right for Messi. He shoots from 15 yards with his right foot, but his effort’s too close to Alisson. There’s the danger for Roma, though.
51 min: The Barcelona fans are urging their team to wake up. The way this is going, it’ll be 1-1 soon.
50 min: Roma hoist another ball into the Barcelona area. Umtiti tries to bring it down in his own six-yard box, which feels like a questionable move. Florenzi immediately pounces on the dithering defender, but he can’t stop the ball from going out for a goal-kick.
49 min: Kolarov’s cross from the left beats everyone and goes out for a throw. It was a good ball. Barcelona look nervous at the back. Moments later Florenzi shoots high and wide from the right.
47 min: The ball’s popped out to Alba on the left. His chest control tees him up for a shot and he belts it at Alisson, who spills the ball into Suarez’s path. The off-colour forward pokes the rebound over. He was offside anyway.
46 min: Roma get the second half underway. They attack immediately. Deep on the right Florenzi curves a fine cross towards the far post, where Roma have an overload. Barcelona are outnumbered and Perotti should score. He has to score. He doesn’t score. He heads wide from six yards. What a miss. That was a sitter.
Updated
Half-time: Barcelona 1-0 Roma
The half ends with Messi seeing another shot blocked. Barcelona won’t mind to much. They’re ahead thanks to Daniele De Rossi’s freakish own goal, though Roma have played well and definitely aren’t out of this yet.
44 min: Kolarov’s booked for a cynical trip on Messi, who was starting to motor.
42 min: Roma might be annoyed that they’ve not got a penalty, but they do have a free-kick right on the edge of the Barcelona area. It’s in a central position. Kolarov and Pellegrini are both standing over it. Either could hit it. Pellegrini does. He tries to send it underneath the wall. But his crafty plan’s read by the Barcelona defenders, who block his effort and clear the ball.
41 min: A loose ball breaks to Pellegrini on the edge of the Barcelona area. He beats Umtiti to it and steps round the defender, who hangs out a leg. Pellegrini goes down and Roma scream for a penalty. The referee awards a free-kick instead. There were inches in that. It looked the right call.
Updated
40 min: All of a sudden, Roma look rattled. Messi hurtles into the area again. Manolas charges across and bundles Messi over just as he looks poised to score. No penalty despite the crowd’s noisy appeals.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Roma (De Rossi own goal, 38 min)
Messi finds Iniesta on the edge of the area and continues his run. Iniesta knows his old mate’s to his right and he tries to find him. Realising the ball’s running into the path of the unmarked Messi, who’ll finally have a clear sight of goal, De Rossi desperately tries to intervene. But he’s facing his own goal. He sticks out a leg and all he can do do is send the ball low to Alisson’s left from 15 yards! That’s rotten luck for the veteran.
Updated
37 min: At some point you fancy that Messi is going to earn the half a yard he needs to shoot with his left foot from 20 yards. But every times he’s threatened to do so far, Roma’s defending has been brilliantly alert. Barcelona are desperately trying to break down the white wall. Manolas steams in on Suarez, who stays down. He slowly gets back to his feet while Barcelona continue to attack. Suddenly the ball’s poked through to Messi. This looks like the moment. Until Manolas makes a cracking challenge.
Updated
34 min: The Camp Nou is quiet.
32 min: A sluggish touch from Semedo allows Perotti to have an adventure down the left. He cuts back and crosses towards Dzeko. Pique’s header goes behind for a corner, Semedo unable to keep it in. But Kolarov’s delivery is poor. Barcelona try to counter, but Iniesta quickly runs out of ideas.
31 min: Iniesta shoots over from 20 yards.
29 min: Messi’s tackled on the edge of the Roma area and the Italians are able to break for the first time in a while. Dzeko lifts a ball from right to left, looking for Perotti, who’s in space. Not for long, though. Semedo races back to push him off the ball. Moments later Iniesta glides into the area and falls over with Peres nearby. He’s told to get up.
Updated
28 min: This is better from Barcelona, Suarez playing a one-two with Messi and bursting into the area on the left. He shoots low and hard, but Alisson gets down smartly to push the ball to safety.
26 min: Roma are containing Barcelona well. The balance of this Barcelona team is strange. They could do with some surging from Paulinho or incision from Ousmane Dembele.
23 min: Rakitic runs down the right, into space vacated by Kolarov. He feeds Messi again.Into the area he goes. De Rossi steps in.
22 min: Messi looks like he’s fashioned space for a shot with his left foot from 20 yards. A trio of Roma defenders do their best to delay him, though. He keeps going, though, turning and almost dribbling through with a magnificent piece of skill. An Italian foot diverts the ball to Rakitic, who sees a deflected shot fizz over.
19 min: A couple of yellow balloons have drifted on to the pitch. Presumably that’s a statement in support of Catalan independence.
Updated
18 min: A raking pass from the back finds Alba, who cushions the ball back to Suarez. His shot from 25 yards takes a deflection and spins wide for a corner. Rakitic’s corner’s headed away. But the ball stays alive and Roma make a mess of getting it away for good. Two defenders go for the same ball and it ends up at the feet of Rakitic, who’s crept into the area from the left. From a tight angle, he looks to take everyone by surprise by opening up his body and aiming for the far corner with his right foot. The ball zips through the legs and, with Alisson unsighted and unable to react in time, looks destined for the back of the net. Instead it comes back off the base of the post! The rebound comes to Suarez, but he’s rushed and blazes over.
17 min: A lot of possession for Barcelona. Not much bite, though. There’s a lack of width in this starting line-up.
14 min: Umtiti strides forward and slides a pass inside Peres to Alba. Peres recovers, however, and slides to whip the ball off Alba’s toes. That was a vital challenge. Alba was in.
11 min: Messi, always up to something, turns 25 yards from goal and decides to have a crack. Alisson fields his low effort, gathering the ball at the second attempt.
10 min: Perotti pushes a pass into the Dzeko’s path. The ball’s on his favoured left foot and he could shoot. He’s got a sight of goal. Instead, he feels contact from Semedo and collapses in an attempt to win a penalty. The Dutch referee looks unimpressed and awards a goal-kick.
Updated
7 min: Suarez and Alba flick the ball between them on the left. Then Iniesta pings a stunning first-time pass through to Suarez. Roma have been effortlessly prised apart here and Suarez takes the ball in his stride, opens up his body and shoots low past Alisson. But Roma can breathe easy. The flag’s up again. Suarez was a yard or two off.
Updated
6 min: Dzeko tries to bustle through the middle. He’s blocked off by Umtiti and the ball breaks into the Barcelona area. Pique has to boot clear with Florenzi closing in quickly.
5 min: Dzeko looks to lead a counter down the left. Pique cuts out his crossfield pass and Barcelona immediately look forward, Iniesta lifting a pass over the top for Messi. For a moment it seems that Roma have got their offside trap wrong. But only for a moment. The flag goes up as Messi controls on his chest.
4 min: Semedo, who’ll need to provide lots of width on the right, combines with Sergi Roberto. He’s stopped in his tracks soon enough, though.
3 min: Semedo steps in to win the ball on the right. The ball comes to Busquets, who quickly looks for Messi on the edge of the Roma area. He’s up against two Roma defenders and looks to make space for a shot. The visitors stand up to him, though, and the danger passes.
Peep! Barcelona, kicking from left to right, get the game underway. They’re in red and blue and they’re kicking from left to right. Roma are all in white. The visitors win the ball immediately and look to attack. They’ve set up with a high press.
Out they come! The players of Barcelona and Roma march out at the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi’s at the back of the queue for the home team. Leave the best till last. Kick-off will be in a few minutes. First it’s time for a bit of Zadok.
Pre-match reading
Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets are back for Barcelona, while Nelson Semedo is in at right-back. Out go Philippe Coutinho, Paulinho and Ousmane Dembele from the side that drew 2-2 with Sevilla on the weekend.
Roma are without the influential Radja Naingollan. They’ve made two changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Bologna on Saturday. Patrik Schick and Stephan El Shaarawy drop out, Bruno Peres and Lorenzo Pellegrini step up.
Team news
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Busquets, Roberto; Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, L Suarez. Subs: Cillessen, Vermaelen, D Suarez, Gomes, Paulinho, Alcacer, Dembele.
Roma: Allison; Peres, Fazio, Manolas, Kolarov; De Rossi, Florenzi, Strootman; Pellegrini, Dzeko, Perotti. Subs: Skorupski, Jesus, Schick, Gonalons, Defrel, Gerson, El Shaarawy.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands).
Updated
Preamble
It’s been a while since Roma made it to a European Cup semi-final. Not only have they never managed to get that far in the Champions League era, they haven’t been in the last four since 1984. That’s a fair old wait for one of Italy’s biggest clubs, even if the last of their three Serie A titles came 17 years ago. They’ve seen plenty of their Italian rivals fare well in this competition since then - Milan had their late-80s and mid-90s dominance, Juventus were champions in 1996 and finalists in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2015 and 2017, and Internazionale did it Jose Mourinho’s way in 2010 - but the Giallorossi haven’t been able to trouble the big boys in modern times.
Is that about to change? Well, there are reasons for Roma to be optimistic. They were placed in a tough group with Atletico Madrid and Chelsea, but finishing top of it owed much to an impressive 3-0 home win over Antonio Conte’s Premier League champions. They were handed an awkward draw against Shakhtar Donetsk, who had qualified at the expense of Serie A pacesetters Napoli, but made it past the talented Ukrainians thanks to the revitalised Edin Dzeko. It’s clear that Eusebio Di Francesco’s team can play.
But you know what’s coming next. That’s right: it’s our old friend Reality, who’s been itching to point out that Roma probably don’t have much of a chance against Barcelona, especially now that Cristiano Ronaldo’s awe-inspiring overhead kick against Juventus has thrown down the gauntlet to Lionel Messi. As Sevilla and Juventus discovered in their respective first legs against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid last night, the super clubs have their game faces on and Roma could be in for a long night at the Camp Nou if Barcelona are in the mood. Or, more specifically, if Messi brings his Chelsea-destroying form to the table.
It’s not hard not to favour the team with the little Argentinian on their side. Much of Roma’s hopes will rest on how well they’ve prepared for Messi. Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona might have lost a little of the old confiscate-your-breath magic, but the same can’t be said of their talismanic No10. Messi remains as deadly and inspirational as ever, as he proved when he preserved Barcelona’s unbeaten league record against Sevilla on Saturday, and the wait for Roma, who lost 6-1 when they visited this ground in 2015, will go on if their primary focus isn’t on stopping him.
Kick-off: 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm CET.
Updated
