Roma stuns Barcelona to book semi-final spot

Underdog Roma put together one of the performances of the season Tuesday against Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico, scoring three goals to top the Catalan giant 4-4 on aggregate, booking the Italian side a spot in the Champions League semi-finals.

Edin Dzeko, Daniele De Rossi, and Kostas Manolas scored for the host in a deserved victory, in which Eusebio Di Francesco's lot were on the front foot as Barcelona exits at the last-eight stage for the third season on the trot.

It is the third time a team has overcome a three-goal deficit in the Champions League, and the first time Roma has advanced to this point in the tournament. Barcelona was the last side to overturn a three-goal margin after the first leg last season against Paris Saint-Germain.

De Rossi and Manolas - both of whom scored own goals in the first leg - were the heroes Tuesday, though it was a stunning team performance all over the park, with Alessandro Florenzi and Federico Fazio particularly good for Di Francesco's lot.

Dzeko breathed life into the affair with a slick sixth-minute opener courtesy of a pinpoint 35-yard pass from just inside the halfway line from De Rossi. The Bosnian's goal was his sixth Champions League goal of the season and third in three appearances against Barcelona.

De Rossi doubled Roma's lead 13 minutes after the interval from the penalty spot after Gerard Pique was adjudged to have brought down Dzeko in the area, and Manolas cemented the result in front of a frenzied partisan crowd when the Greek international met Cengiz Under's corner at the near post to head it beyond a helpless Marc Andre ter Stegen.

Ernesto Valverde's charges suffered just their second defeat of the season in all competitions after slumping to a 1-0 Copa del Rey defeat at rival Espanyol in January.