Some hurts just never heal, despite the passage of time. For Alessandro Florenzi, that’s the Champions League semi-final defeat to Liverpool in 2018.
AS Roma were beaten 6-7 by Jurgen Klopp’s side that year, in what remains one of the best Champions League semi-finals this century.
The second leg of that tie at the Stadio Olimpico ended 4-2 to Roma, who had battled back after being hammered in the first leg at Anfield.
They appeared on course for another iconic comeback after previously beating Barcelona in the quarter-finals. The Italian side pulled off an impossible ‘Romantada’ in that game, winning the second leg 3-0 after a 4-1 defeat at the Camp Nou. They then progressed on away goals.
Liverpool drama
A similar result appeared on the cards against Liverpool. But instead they were left fuming after two game-defining refereeing mistakes by match official Damir Skomina.
The first of those was a handball by Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Liverpool defender visibly deflected a Stephan El Shaarawy shot away from goal to deny the Roma forward.
Under VAR, that would have been a textbook Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) and saw the Liverpool man sent off, as well as a penalty awarded.
Earlier in the second half, Edin Džeko had also been brought down inside the box by Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius. The referee mistakenly blew his whistle for offside, but replays confirmed Džeko was comfortably onside.
No VAR intervention
VAR would have corrected both errors, and left Roma to play the final 30 minutes with a one-man advantage and two penalties. The momentum of the game and history could have been very different.
Eight years on, Florenzi is still clearly thinking about it. And he believes if VAR had been in place, things would have been very different.
“They could have played the last half-hour with ten men, and we might have scored two goals with the backing of the Olimpico crowd,” he told Voce Giallorossa.
“We were riding a wave of enthusiasm, having just pulled off another comeback. I would have loved to play those 30 minutes against ten men and then surge forward. It was the kind of situation that made it clear VAR was needed.”
