“We did everything we could to win the game, but Roma were more effective”. Captain John Terry was demoted to the bench alongside regular starters Costa, Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic.
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The Argentinian was a class act, dipping and skipping past Roma’s players at will but failing to add to close the gap on Ronaldo’s new tally of 80 goals.
Barcelona threatened to over-run the hosts when Florenzi’s awesome goal brought the house down.
Seeing Ter Stegen 15 yards off his line, Florenzi looked up from near the right touchline and hit a drive from just inside the halfway line that sailed over the keeper, off the far post and into the net.
A goal by Josip Pivaric in the 24th and a sending-off for Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud after a second yellow card in the 40th swung the game Dinamo’s way.
“This was a draw which is like a win in what’s going to be an incredibly hard group”.
Messi, impressive on his return to the starting XI, produced a smart stop from Szczesny as his side looked to recover from that bolt from the blue but only a spectacular save from Ter Stegen prevented Radja Nainggolan’s long-range strike giving Roma a barely-deserved lead on the stroke of half-time.
“It’s a draw that’s worth as much as a victory”, Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi said.
The former Liverpool forward lifted the trophy last season with the Catalan giants, scoring in the final against Juventus.
“It’s a huge result to draw with Barcelona and really boosts our confidence”, said Garcia after the match, according to Sports Mole UK.
“We’ve improved”, Roma coach Garcia said.
Zoran Mamic’s side made it 42 matches without defeat thanks to a 24th-minute own-goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and a 58th-minute header from Junior Fernandes, after Olivier Giroud’s sending off, and prior to Theo Walcott’s late consolation goal for the Gunners.
The Arsenal loanee has been impressive for the Giallorossi right from the start of his loan spell but he is believed to miss out on Roma’s games for a couple of weeks.
Roma showed composure as Dzeko evaded two defenders near midfield and dribbled all the way into Barca’s area before coughing the ball up directly to a defender.
A statement from Roma said: “Tests have confirmed that Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny did not sustain a fracture to the fourth finger of his left hand against Barcelona last night, despite having to come off injured in the second half after a clash with Luis Suarez“.
Luis Enrique said he had agreed that was for the best as Messi was exhausted after the birth of his son and he will be hoping the Argentinean has been able to catch up on his sleep in the last 72 hours, because Messi will start in Rome alongside Luis Suarez and Neymar.
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Two minutes later, Salah outran Jordi Alba on the right flank, but Mathieu cleared the ball for a corner.
