Roma say Szczesny out for up to six weeks

Barcelona were threatening to over-run the hosts when Roma right-back Florenzi brought the house down with his spectacular effort.

Alessandro Florenzi scored an extraordinary goal from a seemingly impossible position on the right touchline, almost 50 metres from goal, to give AS Roma a 1-1 draw against Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Roma coach Rudi Garcia, though, applauded his players and said they played a “tactically smart” game against the Spanish champions.

The second half of the match was involved with both the two men colliding once more.

“When I saw it went in, I honestly didn’t know how to celebrate, I put my hands on my face because I knew that I had scored a goal that I will never forget”.

Florenzi said he was aware that Germany worldwide ter Stegen liked to come off his line, but added: “The ball seemed to be in the air for an eternity”. Tactically we were very astute. Although Barcelona combined nicely, as usual, picking Roma apart and forcing the home team to try to counter-punch on speed, the game slowly slipped into a stalemate. We had a lot of chances but Florenzi’s goal came with a slice of luck.

Enrique said of the game: “We had the game under control and I believe a different result to this would have been fairer”.

Zoran Mamic’s side made it 42 matches without defeat thanks to a 24th-minute own-goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and a 58th-minute header from Junior Fernandes, after Olivier Giroud’s sending off, and prior to Theo Walcott’s late consolation goal for the Gunners.

“He took a chance and scored a goal”, he said.

“We got the equaliser with that historic goal from Alessandro Florenzi that will be replayed many, many times”. We have players who are familiar with this competition like Mohamed Salah and Edin Džeko, but everyone played very well, like Morgan De Sanctis and Manuel Iturbe when they were involved. These are the kind of risks we take with our sort of defence. And it is this versatility which is nearly certain to earn Florenzi a spot on Antonio Conte’s Italy squad for next year’s European Championship.

“It’s a huge result to draw with Barcelona and really boosts our confidence”, said Garcia after the match, according to Sports Mole UK.

Valencia fullback Joao Cancelo, who hit the post in the second minute, pulled a goal back for the home side 10 minutes into the second half and forward Andre Gomes levelled 17 minutes from time when he netted from a tight angle.