By Bolaji Douglas
The results of the European Champions league sent shock waves around the world, especially the result coming from Rome where Roma produced an upset by reversing their 1- 4 loss away to Barcelona, doing so in an emphatic manner that left the lovers of the game in a state of awe. This was a match many pundits would have written off considering the way Roma was soundly beaten at the Nou Camp in the first leg of the encounter.
The other match of the night featured the return leg match between Manchester City and Liverpool, a much awaited game with fans of the game kept in suspense in anticipation of an explosive encounter that could possibly see City overturn the first leg result which they lost 0-3 goals away to Liverpool.
Far away in Rome, it appeared the Barcelona team only had to show up and go through the formality of the game and then proceed into the semi-final. They did not bargain for the ambush which Roma had cleverly laid out for them. In Rome the Spaniards met a team of Roman gladiators who came prepared for battle, unfortunately the Spaniards it appeared came for sightseeing instead going by the way they approached the match and the way they went about the entire 90 minutes. Roma swoop into action right from the blast of the whistle, contesting for every ball winning every first and second ball by so doing making sure the Spaniards never got off their first gear.
Roma’s first goal came from what appeared to be a harmless and speculative clearance into the Barcelona box from the midfield. Guilty were the duo of Barcelona defenders Jordi Alba and Umittiti who both committed the school boy error, failing execute the simple requirements of the art of defending, first allowing the ball to bounce and secondly hesitating to take decisive action of taking responsibility for seeing off the danger. Dzeko the man who scored the consolatory away goal in Nou Camp, sensing the opportunity presented by the defenders did not hesitate on his part to exploit it by running ahead of the two and as the keeper came out to help out his fumbling defenders, Dzeko calmly slid the ball past him to register Roma’s intention for the night.
If the first goal was borne out of carelessness on the part of the Barcelona defenders, the second was borne out of even greater folly. Once again it was Rampaging Dzeko who came bearing down upon Pique after a quick exchange between himself and his striking partner Patrik Schick, Pique’s poor attempt at stopping Dzeko while holding unto him resulted in a penalty when he wrestled the unrelenting striker to the ground. The resulting penalty was effectively dispatched away by De Rossi.
With time running out, Cengiz Under whipped in a cross towards the near post which Greece defender Manolas ran into, ahead of his marker Semedo, a glancing header from him guided the ball into the far corner of the post to send the city of Rome into wild jubilation at the sensational upset that was emerging on the night. Roma held on for the remaining part of the game and wild celebration erupted when the referee signalled the end of the game.
What happened to Barcelona can only be explained by also asking the question what took over Roma? Barcelona simply could not get going, Roma made good sure it never happened. Seeing the mercurial Messi and Iniesta harassed and dispossessed of the ball time and time again can best be described as a sight to behold or one to be sad about depending from which side you watched the match. The whole Barcelona team could not get going, they were poor, made poor by a determined Roma who came to battle.
Cross with me over to the city of Manchester where the expectations of football fans were mixed. Fans of Liverpool were hoping that their comfortable win would be preserved, while City fans were banking on the good form which their team had shown all season to come handy in overturning the result. And as for the neutrals, well fingers were crossed in anticipation of an explosive encounter. The game did not disappoint, in what looked like a registration of the intent to turn the tide, City shot into the lead two minutes into the game when they capitalised on the blunder from the Liverpool defender Van Dyke, when his poor clearance was quickly reversed into a sweeping attack which saw Jesus at the end of the resulting cross, he coolly slid the ball past the reach of Karius in goal for Liverpool. From them on Liverpool were in trouble and it was looking like they were going to concede more goals. City sensing they could go all the way tightened the screw on Liverpool as they swarmed all over them. The famed pressing game from Liverpool it appeared could not save them and for the most part of the first half it looked like they were actually parking the bus as City swoop down on them. From the sustained pressure City scored the second goal off a poor attempt by Karius to punch the ball. The goal was however controversially disallowed for offside. The replay showed otherwise. The half time whistle came to the aid of Liverpool and as the team went into the dug out, the question on everyone’s lips was how long can Liverpool hold out?
But the second half of the game presented a different picture, in what appeared to be a tweak in the City set up, Guardiola reverted to a back four, also the intensity of City’s game appeared to taper off and this allowed Liverpool back into the game. Against the run of play a fast counter attacking play between Sallah and Mane, saw Mane bearing down on Ederson in goal, but in what appeared to be a foul he was dispossessed of the ball as he tumbled over, but a lurking Sallah picked up the ball and from a tight angle calmly and cleverly chipped the ball over the lunging body of a City defender to find the net for his 39th goal of the season. He’d been quiet all night as it appeared he was not fully fit, but when you are in a scoring form which he has been this season, all it takes to do the damage is a sniff at goal.
From this point on, City were left with a mountain to climb, they kept on trying to do the same thing in what appeared like a lack of alternative game plan for the night. And as the game wore on, their grip on the game was gradually slipping away. Liverpool’s second came off a silly defensive blunder from Otamendi whose dilly dallying on the ball was severely punished when he lost the ball to Firminho, who in turn took the ball off him and ran unchallenged into the City’s box and clinically placed the ball to the far corner of the post far beyond the reach of Ederson. From the stands where Guardiola was banished to as a result of his furious protestation to the Spanish referee over the disallowed goal, the look on his face summed up the story of the 2018 Champions league for City, it was over.
What happened to these two teams who had blown their respective league away with such an ease that had pundits raving about them all season? In what appeared to have been an easy season for both clubs with the form they had shown over the season. All manner of encomiums had been showered upon the City team by the pundits, with an unassailable 16 points lead over their closest rival United, the league for them was as good as won, needing just one more win to seal this. The way they would have loved to win the league became a distraction. Needing to overturn the 3 goals they had conceded to Liverpool in 4 days time, they had to play their arch rivals Manchester United on Saturday, it appeared they could not resist the urge to win the league at the expense of their rival.
They paid the price, this I say because they committed players and energy into what was a meaningless game in comparison to the Liverpool game. They were badly exposed in the second half with United coming from 2 goals down to run away with 3 goals in what was a thrilling derby. There was something about the way City apart against United in the second half, a worrying trend which appeared to have affected Guardiola’s game plan against Liverpool. Last night against Liverpool he switched to what looked like a conservative approach in the second half even when he had them under siege with the tactics deployed in the first half, did the result against United contribute to this?
Both teams Manchester City and Barcelona appeared to became so confident with the way and manner they had conducted the season and came to perceive themselves as good enough to go all the way by relying on their season’s form. In the case of Barcelona, their poor showing in Rome cuts the picture of complacency while not denying Roma their had won victory. For city it was not what they did last night that made them look arrogant, rather it was their belief that they could take on United humiliate them on the way to winning the league and Liverpool with the debt of 3 goals to overturn in the spate of 5 days. The way they fell apart in the second half of the two encounters humbled them.