Luis Suarez celebrates
Luis Suarez celebrates

Barcelona 4-1 Roma: Big win for hosts at Nou Camp


Barcelona put one foot in the Champions League semi-finals with a 4-1 victory over Roma in the first leg of their quarter-final clash at the Nou Camp.

The Spanish side went ahead in the 39th minute when Daniele De Rossi turned Andres Iniesta's pass into his own net.

Barca moved further ahead with two strikes in as many minutes early in the second half, Gerard Pique netting from close range after Kostas Manolas' own goal.

Roma grabbed a lifeline in the 80th minute as Edin Dzeko produced a tidy finish, but Luis Suarez netted his first Champions League goal of the season shortly afterwards.

Barcelona head Sky Bet's outright odds at 9/4.

Post-match reaction

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde thinks his side merited the three-goal advantage they will take into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Roma.

Valverde said on uefa.com: "Football is a game of errors. You want to make your rivals commit them and to avoid them yourself. We all want our players to be perfect and never make errors but we all do. Even coaches.

"During the season there are all types of games. Ones where you merit more than you get and ones were you get more than you merit. We scored the goals we merited, they attacked us and got the goal they were looking for, which made our fourth very important."

Barcelona have now benefited from five own goals this season, more than any other team in Champions League history, but Gerard Pique insisted it is not just good fortune.

He said: "It's not just luck that we get own goals in our favour. Things happen for a reason. I think that if these goals go our way it's because we press high, we push up in attack - the ball is in the opposition area more than usual in other teams' matches.

"We played a terrific game. Probably we'd feel better if we hadn't conceded but we take a decent advantage to Rome."

Roma boss Eusebio Di Francesco felt his side paid heavily for their errors and was disappointed they could not make more of the chances they created.

"I think the result is too harsh given our performance, considering who we were up against," he said.

"We committed small mistakes inside our area and were a bit slow dealing with some situations.

"It's a pity, but we didn't do ourselves justice. We needed to be a bit more clinical because you don't get many chances against Barcelona."

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