Italian Serie A club AS Roma staged a stunning turnaround midweek to knockout one of the favourites Barcelona and stake a place in the semifinals of the Champions League.

And the man who sent Roma marching on and Barcelona tumbling out of the tournament, was Roma’s Greek central defender Kostas Manolas. With less than 10 minutes of the second leg at the Olimpico stadio in Rome, remaining, Roma led the tie 2-0 thanks to goals from Dzeko and De Rossi, but they still trailed 4-3 on aggregate after their 4-1 away loss to Barca in the first leg.

With the match ticking over the 80th minute, Roma won a corner which Kolarov fired toward the near post. Manolas was first to get his head to the ball ahead of Suarez, glancing it past Barcelona keeper Mar-Anre ter Stegen, just inside the far post to set off wild celebrations amongst the Romans.

The goal capped a remarkable comeback from almost the death for the Romans. The manner of the win and the part he played, was especially satisfying for Manolas who along with teammate De Rossi had the misfortune of scoring an own goal in the 4-1 defeat at the Nou Camp in the first leg. But the Football Fates gave them both a shot at redemption and they grabbed it emphatically by each scoring in the 3-0 win that knocked out the Spanish giants, who were unbeaten in both their domestic league competition and in the Champions League.

Roma played a 3-4-2-1 formation, pressing Barcelona with great intensity high up the pitch, not allowing the Catalans to play out of defence with any fluency and starving both Messi and Iniesta, as well as Suarez of the ball , especially in the final third. The home team was able to sustain the pressure and exploit its height and physical advantage over the smaller Barcelona team. Tall forward Dzeko especially proved a match winner for Roma.

Like Barca, another team many tipped to reach the final, Manchester City was also knocked out. Unlike Roma, Manchester City was unable to overcome a three goal away deficit to Liverpool from the first leg, bowing out 5-1 on aggregate following a 2-1 home loss to the Reds on Wednesday morning.

Despite Gabriel Jesus’s early goal giving City the lead in the revers tie, Liverpool hit back with goals to Mohamed Salah and Robert Firmino to give Jurgen Klopp

‘s  Reds safe passage into the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 10 years.