Rome's night is bitter. In fact, Sergio Conceiçao's Porto goes to the quarter-finals, while the yellow and reds just have to deal with enormous disappointment, yet another failure of this season so far. Of course, the evaluations of referee Çakir also weigh on the elimination, good at giving the Portuguese a fair penalty a few minutes from the end of extra time, much less in not doing the same shortly after in the opposite area due to a contact between Marega and Schick .
It is not, in our opinion, a scandalous mistake, but it is certain that a "bet" on the monitor would not have hurt, at least not to give the impression of a home referee. However, it is useless to cry over spilled milk, also because the 3-1 final cannot be explained only by the decisions of the Turkish whistle. In fact, the numerous mistakes of a Rome that was too careless in the defensive phase (this is nothing new) and excessively wasteful in the offensive one (this one, however, is): if you concede three very avoidable goals and miss some sensational ones, you cannot expect to break it, not at these levels.
And so Porto goes to the quarter-finals and the Giallorossi are left with multiple regrets, as well as the feeling of being one step away from failure. Only a qualification for the next Champions League, in fact, would be able to make a year always experienced between ups and downs less bitter, with the latter obviously much superior to the former. Twelve league games, this is what Roma have left to try and save themselves from the total flop: the question everyone is asking, at this point, is whether Di Francesco will attempt the mission or someone else.
The answer will probably only come today, but it is certain that no positive signals have come from Oporto for the current Giallorossi coach, who after the match avoided the journalists present to take refuge on the team bus. Understandable behavior from a human point of view but not from a professional point of view: a coach who doesn't show his face after an elimination from the Champions League certainly doesn't convey security to the environment in which he works.
The feeling is that Di Francesco has now reached the end of his career in yellow and red, although yesterday's defeat was more the result of episodes than tactical errors. Of course, the initial choices (3-4-2-1 with Juan Jesus, Marcano and Karsdorp as starters) aroused amazement but also a certain courage in those who, after the defeat in the derby, decided to gamble "life" without looking at face anyone, aware that in the end he would have paid anyway.
Ready-go and the defense betrayed again: bad ball lost by Manolas in midfield, Porto counter-attack and easy goal by Soares (26'). Not even 10 minutes though and Roma equalized with De Rossi, very cold to convert a sacrosanct penalty (foul by Militao on Perotti) and put his team back on track, just as befits a captain. It's a shame, however, that the Giallorossi defense made more water than the Titanic: watching Porto's 2-1 (53', sensational hole in the box and Marega's easy tap-in) is to be believed.
At that point the match, in perfect parity with the result of the first leg, rightly got heavier, with two teams divided between the desire to find the qualifying goal and the fear of suffering the elimination goal. And so, minute after minute, we got to the second overtime and there, with penalties just around the corner, the emotions returned. In the 112th minute the sliding door of the match: Dzeko, thrown on goal by a chocolate from Cristante, wasted badly with a spoon that must have horrified Totti, and only 3' later Porto received the qualification penalty thanks to the painstaking Var when reporting to Çakir a hold by Florenzi on Fernando: do it silly but clear to the delight of Alex Telles, very cold in beating Olsen and making Dragao explode. However, in the 122nd minute, he trembled with fear: contact between Marenga and Schick, conciliation between the Var and the Turkish referee, before the same decided to let it go without even looking at the replay personally.
Image that perfectly photographs the season of Roma, always on the verge of turning around but never succeeding. The objectives, as previously mentioned, are not exhausted yet but it will certainly not be easy to recover from such a blow. Especially with a coach who, at this point, seems to be the first to no longer believe it.
In the second leg of the round of 3, Manchester United achieved a sensational qualification for the quarterfinals by beating Paris St. Germain at the Parc des Princes 1-0. It had never happened in the history of the Champions League that a team managed to overturn a 2-93 suffered at home. On the scoresheet Lukaku (brace), Bernat and Rashford (XNUMXrd from a penalty). Buffon's mistakes were decisive, in tears at the end of the match.
