Roma need a miracle to beat Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final second-leg tie, coach Eusebio Di Francesco has admitted.
The Italian side trail Barcelona 4-1 going into the second leg of their Champions League clash on Tuesday night.
Yet, Di Francesco feels his side have nothing to lose against the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
"We have the chance to do something unthinkable, considering that they practically haven't lost — a miracle if you will," Di Francesco said on Monday.
Barcelona are undefeated in the Spanish league and the Champions League this season. Their only three defeats came in both legs of the Spanish Super Cup to Real Madrid in August and to Espanyol in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in January.
"We've got the duty to try," Di Francesco said. "Let's remember the home match against Chelsea but let's also remember that we're facing an armada."
Roma were thoroughly impressive in beating Chelsea 3-0 in the group stages earlier in the season, and can also take inspiration from the last time they hosted Barcelona.
In the 2015-16 group stages, Roma held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw courtesy of Alessandro Florenzi's astonishing equaliser from near the half-way line.
But Barcelona routed Roma 6-1 in the reverse fixture in Spain much like they manhandled the Giallorossi last week at the Camp Nou.
Own goals by Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas, plus some sloppy defending that allowed Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez to score, has left Roma on the verge of elimination.
"Roma have never had a winning mentality — or hasn't had it for very long," said Di Francesco, who was a midfielder in the 2001 Roma squad that won the club's last Serie A title.
"We need to build that mentality inside Trigoria (the team's training center) and we've got to do it with facts and not with chit-chat."
While Roma are unbeaten at home in the Champions League, six of their seven losses in Serie A have come at the Stadio Olimpico, including a debilitating 2-0 defeat by Fiorentina on Saturday that saw them drop into fourth place.
In a tight battle to finish in the top four and hold on to their place in the Champions League, Roma are level on points with third-place Lazio and only one point above Inter Milan entering into this weekend's Rome derby.
Fortunately for Roma, robust midfielder Radja Nainggolan has returned from a thigh injury after missing last week's match in Barcelona.
Turkey winger Cengiz Under, who scored six goals for Roma in February and March, remains questionable due to an injured thigh.
It's been an up-and-down season for Nainggolan, who was punished by Roma for drunken, live Instagram postings on New Year's Eve.
"It's true that I've never won anything but those that know me know that I've always played to win," Nainggolan said.
"Sometimes I prefer the toughest road possible. I chose Roma because it's got great fan support and it would be stupendous to win here."
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