Can Liverpool hold off a second Roma fightback and march on to yet another Olympic Stadium?

If Roma can glean confidence from having fought back to beat Barcelona, Liverpool can glean confidence from withstanding a comeback against a superior side to Roma in Manchester City

Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium and an electrically charged eighth Champions League final loom closer than ever in Liverpool’s line of vision. And yet there is still one prospect looming greater than anything else over events on the pitch at a very different Olympic Stadium, in Rome.

It was the one thing Jurgen Klopp was repeatedly asked about before the game, and one thing corroding what should be a natural confidence about Liverpool returning to club football’s premier occasion, where they feel they belong. It is also one thing that would be more than worthy of European champions; a truly Olympian feat in its own right.

That would be Roma completing a second sensational three-goal comeback in this memorable Champions League campaign. Withstanding this, and all the force around it, is the test for Klopp’s side. “We will be ready,” he said, but so are their opponents.

Are Roma capable of a second stunning comeback? (Getty)

The fact Roma did it in their very last home match in Europe, against a side as good as Barcelona, has accentuated the simmering Liverpool anxiety that stems from those two late goals at Anfield -- especially since they took the score to exactly the point where a repeat of that quarter-final second-leg result would be enough. Enough for history.

The Roma squad can have faith from the numbers, to bolster their genuine faith in themselves.

“We need to believe that we can do it,” Radja Nainggolan said. “For us, the only thing we need to try and do is score three goals and not concede.”

They’ve already managed that twice in the Champions League this season – once in a very similar situation to this; once against another Premier League side in Chelsea – to go with the fact they haven’t conceded a goal in the competition at home this season.

The faith that comes from this alone is why the feat is possible. This is why the Roma deflation from the first leg has gradually given way to defiance over the last few days.

“I would like to make something clear,” manager Eusebio Di Francesco declared on the eve of the second leg. “We are about to play a Champions League semi-final in front of 70,000 people. Do you expect us to sit back? No… we need to raise the bar in terms of physical effort, attitude, approach to the game and trying to score an early goal to have the fans behind us even more.”

The tone was right. The talk was right. After Barcelona, Di Francesco is well aware how one quick goal can suddenly completely distort perceptions of the most distant of scorelines. It changes the nature of the tie. It is no longer about a comeback, but about a chase.

It also changes the entire mood. The problem for Roma is that Liverpool are well aware of this, too. And they’ve still come out the other side.

If Roma can glean confidence from having completed a comeback against a superior side to Liverpool in Barcelona, Liverpool can glean confidence from having so completely withstood a comeback against a superior side to Roma in Manchester City. They didn’t just withstand it, either. They won that leg 2-1.

And the fact remains they won this first leg 5-2. There’s also the much more relevant confidence that comes from that.

Liverpool take a three goal lead into the second leg (Getty)

Mere talk of last month’s heroism from Roma doesn’t change the tangible effects of today’s reality. Liverpool still have a resoundingly strong lead.

“After a week a few people think Roma only have to win 3-0 but that is quite a result,” Klopp said. “I'm not saying it is impossible but it is quite difficult.”

There are also the potential effects of that lead. Roma simply have to come out – as Di Francesco promised they would – but then leave themselves open to a side much better suited to counter-attacking than a Barcelona who were so oddly constrained by Ernesto Valverde.

That gives rise to the two main tactical questions that will condition the game; that arise from the last one.

How much will Klopp rein Liverpool in so as not to hand Roma a platform to get back into the tie, even though there is the enticement of attacking the space in behind to kill it?

How much will Di Francesco commit to pressing to getting the goals Roma require, given the pressure of the knowledge that one single slip could give Liverpool – and specifically Mohamed Salah – all the space they need to secure that space in the final?

Eusebio Di Francesco has a real tactical puzzle to solve (Getty)

These are the finer tactical points and clutch do-or-don’t decisions where managers really show their extra level; these are the more intensive details that really elevate occasions as big as this. It is the challenge of working out the solution when the stakes are at their highest.

These elements are also what the managers are going to be cagiest about discussing on the eve of the game.

Klopp: “Gegenpressing is not all my boys are good at. There are different things needed in the game tomorrow and first and foremost we need to be ready for it. The closer the game comes Roma realise they still have to score three, it didn't happen too often this season against us.”

Di Francesco: “We need to improve tremendously compared to the first leg. We need to be more effective to make the most of the mistakes and to try and make as few mistakes as possible. We can’t afford to sit back and to drop deep, so we need to stay true to our philosophy and and limit as much as possible our mistakes.”

Jurgen Klopp knows that his side are the favourites (Getty)

Di Francesco also mentioned how it will be so different to Barcelona because Liverpool “plays less with the ball”. But that’s not all that’s different.

It does feel that Klopp’s side will be so much more charged than a Barca team that were so oddly flat; so limp.

This is something else around Liverpool, that can’t be ignored.

The disgraceful attack on supporter Sean Cox has so altered the atmosphere around this tie. The Liverpool players want to do it for him, and add to everything the club has done in this competition that an avid supporter like Cox has so celebrated.

Roma players trained in Sean Cox t-shirts on Tuesday (Getty)

That is something else around this European surge.

“We are here to fight for our dreams,” Klopp said.

Those very words may cause people to cringe, and the emotional will that so often surrounds Liverpool side during runs like these is something that is simple for others to dismiss before games, but it is very difficult to counter during those games. The fact that there is a “2004-05 vibe” around the club is no longer being talked about, but felt, with that fired by the invigoration that comes from living up to so much history.

Both Klopp and Di Francesco did dismiss the relevance of the 1984 final on the eve of this rematch, with the German stating “I don't think anyone thinks it helps our 'grandfathers' won here”. While that is generally correct, Di Francesco also appropriately mentioned “facing a great opponent with a huge tradition and history”.

This has more relevance than offering colour in the build-up. This is after all Liverpool’s tenth Champions League semi-final, and they have come through seven of the previous nine.

That can have an effect at crucial stages. When it comes to key moments, when games are sagging or changing, players will have the knowledge that they are playing for a club who just comes through these games. It can bring an important conviction in a tackle or pass, rather than that slight hesitation.

Can Liverpool hold off the Roma fightback? (Getty)

Such history also brings other lessons. Liverpool’s healthy lead might leave them mindful of a story from one of their most tense semi-finals, but one that did lead to a final showdown with Real Madrid in 1981. That was when Bob Paisley came across pamphlets for Bayern Munich supporters ahead of their second leg. Even though the score was a mere 0-0 from Anfield, those pamphlets showed the way to Parc des Princes for the Paris final.

Paisley of course used it as motivation, and Liverpool should of course be wary of Roma now using any similar signs of complacency. That is when a three-goal lead really is dangerous.

Liverpool know what they have to do, just as they knew how to get through that match in Munich’s Olympic Stadium in 1981, drawing 1-1. They also know the one challenge that will prevent them progressing from Rome’s Olympic Stadium, and onto Kyiv’s.