Strootman pinpoints moment Roma players started to believe

Roma beat Barcelona 3-0 in front of a packed Stadio Olimpico to progress on the away goals, in a result that stunned European football.

And afterwards Strootman, while enjoying the moment, was keen to stress that the side now want to aim even further.

Has last night sunk in for you yet? Roma hadn’t reached a semi-final for 34 years before yesterday. In 20 years time people will still be talking about this as one of the great comebacks in the history of European football.

"It was a special night for all Roma fans, and for Italians in general too. I saw that other clubs have been congratulating us on social media for the win, it’s a great win for Italy.

"We did everything we could to get the result we needed last night. We knew it was a tough ask, the opponents were obviously a pretty good team after all! We just gave absolutely everything, and having a packed stadium full of supporters like ours really helped. The atmosphere was incredible, a special night for all Romanisti."

When was the moment you started to think it could be done?

"Honestly, it was after the first goal. Of course you always have to believe, there’s no point playing otherwise, but that goal really lifted us. It was a perfect game: we got the early goal, and didn’t leave them much of a window to react after we scored the winner. We gave everything for this, everyone fought, and you can see what it means to the fans, the staff and the players."

You could see that Barca looked shaky...

"It was strange to see Barcelona looking to protect the lead rather than impose their own game. They never do that, they always look to come and play, so the fact that they wanted to wind down the clock from the start encouraged us. It was a signal that they were there for the taking."

It was a deserved victory...

"Coming off a 4-1 loss in the first leg, it was obvious that we were the underdogs. We felt hard done by to lose by that score-line, we didn’t deserve it. There were two penalties which weren’t given, two own goals, chances missed. Coming back to win after the 4-1 first leg is something incredible."

Semi-finals and beyond?

"We’ll go for it in the semi-finals. It doesn’t matter who we get, they’re all going to be strong teams, they wouldn’t be there otherwise. Our objective is to get to the final. Our focus is now on the derby, but after that we will look for more. Getting to this point is not enough for us, we want the final."

Will the other teams be hoping to draw you after last night?

"They can hope to get us if they like, we all saw how that worked out for Barca. We respect all the other teams, but we don’t fear anyone."