Roma coach Di Francesco looking to rally against Liverpool

Rome May 1 (IANS) Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco on Tuesday said his team is looking to rally and win the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals against Liverpool.

Liverpool defeated Roma 5-2 in the first leg of the semi-final on April 24; however in the quarter-finals Roma managed to beat Barcelona 3-0 in the second leg overcoming a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 defeat in the first leg reports Efe.

"We re up against a very different team to Barcelona in that they play more direct. In any case we want to pull this comeback off and achieve something special " Di Francesco said at a press conference ahead of Wednesday s clash at the Stadio Olimpico.

"As for injury news unfortunately it s hard to see Kevin Strootman being involved " Di Francesco added.

"We re playing a Champions League semi-final in front of 70 000 people -- you should expect to see a team ready to compete. I want to see an eagerness and desire from the players to overcome this challenge " he explained.

Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan said a second-leg comeback against Liverpool is shaping up to be more difficult than Roma s quarter-finals rally against Barcelona.

"It ll be even harder than it was against Barcelona because Liverpool are a stronger side physically " Nainggolan said.

"In the first leg Liverpool were more consistent than we were through the course of the game. We managed to get two goals towards the end and that gives us hope for tomorrow " he said.

"We cannot make the same mistakes we did last week and we know that " he added.

Nainggolan who scored fewer goals than assists this season insisted that he "doesn t live for goals".

"It s nice to score but the most important thing is the final result. If I ve got more assists it means I ve made other players happy " he said.

--IANS
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