Edin Dzeko is pleased his decision to reject a winter switch to Chelsea is yielding dividends at AS Roma.
The Bosnian’s strike at Camp Nou kept the tie open in a 4-1 defeat and proved decisive, as Tuesday’s 3-0 victory allowed them to go through on away goals.
“Now I can play the semi-final too! It wasn’t easy, but I stayed here and am very happy to be here. I think the club is glad too!” the January Chelsea target told Mediaset Premium.
Dzeko was asked how much money he turned down from the Premier League champions in order to stay in Rome.
“Let’s not talk about it. Money doesn’t matter,” he smiled.
“This was the best, but even better may well be yet to come. It proved we can play against anyone, as Barcelona are such a strong side. We put three goals past them and could’ve had more.
“I have never seen Barcelona struggle so much. We pressed them constantly from the first minute.
“We all believed, even if everyone else gave us a five percent chance. We knew it’d be tough to win 3-0, but now we’ve done it in such a splendid way, I can safely say Roma are deservedly in the Champions League semi-final.
“Every time we’ve faced the big clubs, we have won or got a positive result. Perhaps it’s our fault, as when we are the favourites in a tie, we think for some reason it might be easy, but it never is easy.”
