ROME — Slowly, reluctantly, their voices hoarse and their shoulders slumped, A.S. Roma’s fans started to lift themselves from their seats and head toward the Stadio Olimpico exits, ready to make the long, sorrowful journey back into town.
Only a minute remained of the second leg of this Champions League semifinal, sixty more seconds after three frantic, chaotic, lunatic hours of soccer over two games. Liverpool still, somehow, led by 7-5 on aggregate. Roma needed to score twice more simply to force extra time.
At last, Roma’s fans resigned themselves to the inevitable. It was over. It would be Liverpool in the Champions League final for the first time in 11 years, against Real Madrid in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 26.