The Champions League is full of sides losing by three goals or more – and that includes the latter stages. Even domestically dominant sides can be found wanting
Explain this: Juventus, top of Serie A, having kept clean sheets in 21 of their previous 25 games, horribly defensively exposed by Real Madrid last week, letting in three. And yet on Tuesday night Roma, third in Serie A, 21 points behind Juve, hammered Barcelona, who remain unbeaten in La Liga and stand 15 points clear of fourth-placed Real Madrid. How can this be?
Eusebio Di Francesco, rightly, took credit for his switch to a back three. “I made this choice,” the Roma coach explained, “to create more width, allow more counterattacks and bring speed, but what really changed was the philosophy of the side.” Roma pressed ferociously from the first minute and that unsettled Barça, who are not used to facing sides that take them on and perhaps had made the mistake of thinking the tie was won.
Related: 'A historic humiliation for Barcelona' – Roma win stuns Spanish press
Related: 'It's not a miracle, it's something bigger' – Italian press hails Roma's win
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