With a 0-2 victory over AS Roma, Bayer Leverkusen has good credentials to reach the Europa League final. In an attractive match, it was a huge mistake by Rick Karsdorp who set up Florian Wirtz’s opening goal, after which Robert Andrich increased the lead with a great long-range shot. This means that the Germans still have six games to go for an undefeated season.
Bayer Leverkusen is doing a real Houdini act this year. The German champions seemed to be heading for a loss several times this season, but no fewer than 29 goals after the eightieth minute the Werkself still undefeated. If Xabi Alonso’s team remains without defeat in the maximum seven matches that follow, this will be unique in the five major European competitions. The 42-year-old coach’s team had to deal with Daniele Rossi’s AS Roma in the semi-finals of the Europa League, which proved to be a bit too strong last year. Rick Karsdorp was among the Romans, while Jeremie Frimpong started on the other side.
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The agile wingback was able to break free after a handy through ball from Florian Wirtz, but shot the ball into the side net after about twenty minutes. In the initial phase, Amine Adli and Granit Xhaka had already been dangerous after a mistake by Rick Karsdorp, but the Roman defense cleverly blocked both players’ attempts. Also on the rest of the field the Werkself great difficulty with the defensive work of the Italians, who put a lot of pressure and made it difficult to play football. This also led to mistakes by the German champion. For example, Jonathan Tah misjudged a high ball towards Romelu Lukaku and had to pay for this with a yellow card. Moments later, the burly defender took on the Belgian striker in a header, but saw the attempt explode against the crossbar.
The spaces had now become larger, which improved both the attractiveness of the match and the ball tempo. Roma had a little more ball possession and tried to find cup keeper Matej Kovar’s goal with careful combination play, while Leverkusen sometimes relied a little more on the breakout and had a more direct approach to the game. Ultimately, the visitors took the lead after half an hour after a huge mistake by Karsdorp. The 29-year-old back slipped in a duel with Alex Grimaldo, after which the Spanish back enabled Wirtz to score the opening goal. Moments later, the talented midfielder had a chance to increase the lead after a good move by Frimpong, but he ran into the fists of Mile Svilar.
Frimpong threatened twice in the first half. His first attempt flew narrowly wide, after which he wasted a huge opportunity shortly before half-time by not hitting the ball. Leverkusen had several man-more situations, but did not handle them well. On the other hand, Roma scored a nice chance through Lorenzo Pellegrini, but the Romans were mainly concerned with frustrating the opponent. They made clever fouls and simply fell down, something the referee didn’t always seem to know what to do with.
A few seconds after the first whistle, the home team threatened, but Karsdorp and Bryan Cristante both mowed over a dangerous cross. Subsequently, both Piero Hincapie and Cristante were unable to direct their headers enough to score a goal. It was an open second half with the game going up and down at a considerable pace. Roma tried to be the dominant team, but by giving away the necessary spaces it was the visitors who showed the most threat. However, ‘Neverlosen’ attempts flew over or were blocked, meaning it took a long time before the first attempt fell between the posts in the second half.
Andrich’s shot went towards the goal with just over fifteen minutes left on the clock and could not be stopped by Svilar. After Grimaldo crossed half the field, Leverkusen put the ball back three times, after which the 29-year-old midfielder beautifully sent the ball into the intersection. In the final phase, Roma did everything they could to force a tying goal. Substitute Serdar Azmoun, on loan from Leverkusen to Roma, had a huge chance, but was unable to add any power to his shot. Tammy Abraham also failed in the last minute, after Matej Kovar completely missed. In the end the score remained 0-2, which means Leverkusen is in a good position to reach the final of the Europa League.
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