Camp Nou, 4/4 night. Quarter-final for the Champions League 2017/18. In the 38th minute , Coordination of Ivan Rakitic - Andres Iniesta - Lionel Messi facilitate for players 10 Barcelona made the opening of the penalty area Roma for the first time. Messi rushed into the center of Roma but he has not really escaped the test of the white shirt shadow. Going to the side of Messi, a Roma player who lean to the ball.
Since De Rossi's reign, Roma have been unable to keep their focus and strength.
The ball could not reach Messi's position by the impact of the player, but instead of crossing the line it ... hit the net before the stunned goalkeeper Alisson. After the effort, the Roman captain - Daniele De Rossi. De Rossi and his teammates did a great job of blocking Messi, closing the creative space of the Barca superstar for more than an hour early in the tournament.
In the wake of De Rossi's reign, Roma could not keep up the concentration and strength needed to counter a series of interruptions from the hosts. They lost the second goal, also from an own goal - this time the central defender Kostas Manolas. Then the third goal after a phase close to Pique's close. Edin Dzeko's 80th-minute strike was immediately extinguished by Luis Suarez's quick header, just 3 minutes before the referee whistled.
The first ever Champions League quarterfinal, Roma and De Rossi - the only Giallorossi in the 2007-08 quarter-finals (losing to Manchester United in the final 0-3). closed in the saddest way possible. De Rossi, the living symbol of Roma, became the opening ... the failure of the home team. And losing to 1-4, against a team that is still "poisoned her defeat" in La Liga, Champions League and Copa de Rey this season as Barca, the upside is almost impossible.
But in the second leg between the two teams last night. In the "arena" of Olimpico, the heart of the city, eternity, Rome has done the impossible. In line with Barcelona, to become the third team in the league history to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League knockout despite losing 3 (away) in the first leg after Deportivo 2004 and the main ... Barcelona last season.
Roma did the impossible
Roma's divine uprising, in an unforgettable evening, will certainly be mentioned in the history of the capital club for years to come. Surprisingly, coincidentally, Back from the "offense" first leg. De Rossi. 6 minutes from the middle of the field, De Rossi launched a pass dropping super class, enabling conditions Dzeko exit down to finish the table. 55 minutes, Dzeko shiny dexterity in the penalty area Barca forced Pique to foul. Penalty for the home team and De Rossi is responsible for the penalty kick.
Cool, decisive and accurate, De Rossi defeated Ter Stengen at penalties. And Roma increased the score to 2-0. After the break, De Rossi ran fast to Stegen for the ball. Not a second to waste. Then he screamed, urging and encouraging his teammates to keep up the blood-fire spirit for a coming-to-come fight. What happens after that, we all know. From a corner, Manolas hit the bar for the third time in the 82nd minute. 3-0 for Roma, they kept this gap until the end.
3-0 is enough for a non-floating upside, just enough for Roma to advance to the semi-finals. But perhaps no words or sentences can be enough to describe how De Rossi, the Roman captain, who has been with the club in the past many ups and downs throughout the 21st century, who has suffered countless The pressure after the defeat at the Nou Camp, which fought, created a strong impetus for the entire team in the Olimpico victory last night.
Like Francesco Totti, who hung up late last season and last night, sitting on the stands of the Olimpico, watching his team make one of the most unsettling victories in the club's history, De Rossi has always considered Roma part of the game. in life. For him, it would be better to go to Roma than to leave this place for promising "glamorous" promotions in the Premier League or La Liga. But if Totti is the representative of what is the most romantic, most romantic and sparkling of the Roma, De Rossi is a symbol of the opposite, roughness, edge more than qualities. Fighting spirit, fire-fighting, unsung-hero or even the dark side always exists in any Olympics.
If Totti is an artist, then De Rossi, who is a fighter. And last night, at the Olimpico arena, the gladiator was the nucleus, the one who introduced the fire, was the leading wolf in the 90 minutes that Roma roar triumph. De Rossi created. De Rossi scores. De Rossi broke into the situation. An indomitable De Rossi, as was, in hundreds of previous Roma games. Of course, there is not always a De Rossi like a perfect performance as he battled and won against Barca last night. But the spirit of a warrior, the temperament of a Romeo-themed "gladiator", was never, in De Rossi, suspicious.
De Rossi, having made his debut for Roma in October 2001, has traveled a long way as a "keeper of the Giallorossi spirit" for almost two decades. At the age of 35, in the first official season as captain of Roma, in the first season no longer Totti next door, De Rossi is the anchor of the spirit and will of Roma. And he, after the past has been over, after so many skeptics and lacuna, has once again shown the value of the "head wolf" in adversity.
Daniele De Rossi: Olimpico roars the glory
With the Totti captain, Roma's best performance in the Champions League was two halves in the quarter-finals, with a disastrous defeat against only one opponent - Man United. But with De Rossi striker, Roma has surpassed himself, has done the impossible, was the first Champions League semi-final.
Up until now, despite having spent all his best youth for Roma, De Rossi has never won a glorious title for the big except for two Coppa Italia champions. But in one evening all the roads came to Rome, and in one night the miracle happened in the city of eternity, De Rossi - the violent warrior - can dream of a full climax? It has been a part of the club's history for a long time. Climb the Champions League!