Eusebio Di Francesco has urged his Roma players to “do the unthinkable” and eliminate Barcelona from the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
The La Liga side currently hold the advantage in the quarter-final tie after winning 4-1 in the first leg at the Nou Camp last week with Edin Dzeko netting the away goal for Roma.
While this week’s tie at the Stadio Olimpico represents a tough challenge for the Italians, Di Francesco has called on his players to give the second leg their all.
“We must always play at our best for this shirt, even more so in this game since we have to overturn the scoreline from the first leg,” he said.
“We’ll play our strongest line-up against Barcelona. We must play with passion, heart and belief right up until the final whistle if we want to do the unthinkable. We have a duty to give it everything.”
For Ernesto Valverde, he is taking nothing for granted with Barcelona themselves overturning a four-goal deficit in their last-16 match against PSG last season.
“The mistake would be to think that we are already in the semi-finals,” he said. “It’s true we got a good result in the first leg but nothing more. We have to play as if it’s 0-0 because you never know what might go wrong – a sending-off, or something.”
Team News
Cengiz Under (knee) will be assessed by Roma ahead of the game and if he is deemed fit, will feature in the squad, but Diego Perotti (calf) is definitely ruled out. Radja Nainggolan is available for selection after missing the first leg.
Barcelona look set to have a clean bill of health for the trip to Italy, with only Lucas Digne (hamstring) set to be an omission.
Stats
Roma have never lost at home vs Barcelona (W1 D1). That one win was a 3-0 victory in February 2002, a result that will see them through here. However, Barcelona have won their last two against Roma, by an aggregate score of 10-2.
Barca haven’t won any of their last six Champions League games away against Italian sides (D4 L2), since a 3-2 win against Milan in November 2011.
Roma have kept a clean sheet in five of their last six Champions League home games, winning the last three in a row.
The Spanish side have conceded just three goals in this season’s Champions League, fewer than any other side.
Lionel Messi has scored just two goals in his nine Champions League away games vs Italian sides, with both of these coming against Milan (November 2011 and October 2013).
