African football stars, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have reached the UEFA Champions League final for the very first time in their careers.
Both players featured as Liverpool survived a scare from Italian side, AS Roma, during the second leg of their semifinal tie at the Stadio Olympico.
Mane put on a man of the match display, netting a goal for the Reds, who lost 4-2 on the night but sealed a place in the final thanks to a 7-6 aggregate victory over their Serie A counterparts.
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Their manager, Jurgen Klopp, had this to say about their performance;
“The campaign the boys have played, the character they’ve shown, the mentality they’ve shown, the football they’ve played – it’s crazy!”
Liverpool came into the match leading 5-2 on aggregate, after that remarkable performance last week at Anfield.
Roma needed three goals to overturn that result, but found themselves a goal behind when Mane gave Liverpool an early advantage when he put them 1-0 ahead in the ninth minute.
That goal was the ninth goal CL this season for the Senegal international, with most coming in his last 8 matches.
Liverpool’s lead, however, lasted six minutes, as a James Milner own goal had the hosts level, before Georginoo Wijnaldum restored their advantage as the English side went into the break leading 2-1.
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After the break, it was a totally different Roma team, who came out inspired, coming close to a comeback.
Dzeko drew Roma level for the second time to bring scores to 2-2, six minutes into the second 45.
But Roma had to till four minutes to go for the next goal, Radja Nainggolan made it 3-2 with a fierce effort from outside the box, before converting a penalty in added time to give Roma a 4-2 lead.
Despite their capitulation in the second half, Klopp’s side held on to book their place in the final in Kyiv, where they’d be hoping to stop defending champions, Real Madrid, from winning a third consecutive title.
