ROME — Roma pulled off an extraordinary comeback Tuesday to knock Barcelona out of the Champions League, winning 3-0 at home to reach the semifinals by overturning a three-goal deficit from the first leg.

Roma entered the game as a massive underdog after losing the first leg of their quarterfinal 4-1 against a Lionel Messi-led team that was one of the big favorites to win the competition.

But they advanced on away goals after center back Kostas Manolas scored the decider with a header from a corner in the 82nd minute amid a deafening atmosphere inside the Stadio Olimpico.

“It wasn’t luck. This is what happened,” Roma Coach Eusebio Di Francesco said, who acknowledged before the match that his team needed a “miracle” to advance.

Messi and fellow Barcelona forward Luis Suarez hardly threatened as Roma dominated possession for long stretches and stifled the Catalan club with high pressure.

“We came here to try to win the match. But they were really, really strong,” Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde said through a translator. “They ran a lot of risks and we were unable to overcome their pressure.

“It’s painful. It’s painful for our fans.”

It’s the first time that Roma has reached the last four since it lost the 1984 final to Liverpool on penalties in its own stadium – and it’s the third straight year that Barcelona has been eliminated at this stage.

Only two clubs had previously overturned at least a three-goal first-leg deficit in the Champions League – Deportivo La Coruna beat AC Milan 4-0 after losing the opening leg 4-1 in the 2004 quarterfinals and Barcelona routed Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 after losing the first game 4-0 in last season’s Round of 16.

“Well when you lose a match like this you think about everything that went wrong. You analyze things,” Valverde said when asked if would take the blame for the loss. “A week ago we were performing well. We scored four goals. The only thing I regret was today was a match in which we had a great opportunity and we didn’t seize it.”

LIVERPOOL 2, MANCHESTER CITY 1: Liverpool reached the Champions League semifinals after recovering from conceding a goal inside two minutes against Manchester City to win at Manchester, England, thanks to second-half strikes by Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool, which won 5-1 on aggregate, is bidding for its sixth title in Europe’s top competition – and its first since 2005. It was the latest Champions League failure by City manager Pep Guardiola, who won the competition twice with Barcelona.