The Leverkusen footballers with three Czech representatives drew 2:2 with AS Rome in the home rematch of the Europa League semi-final and advanced to the final with a 2:0 victory on aggregate.
Bayer was still losing 0:2 in the 82nd minute after two penalties by Leandro Paredes, but the result of the double match was decided by an own goal scored by Gianluca Mancini. Josip Stanišič equalized in the seventh minute of regulation.
Forward Adam Hložek and goalkeeper Matěj Kovář started in the starting line-up, Patrik Schick played the final quarter of an hour.
Bayer will compete for the trophy on May 22 in Dublin with Bergamo, who beat Marseille 3-0 at home after last week’s 1-1 draw. Atalanta will play in the final of a European competition for the first time in the club’s history.
Leverkusen can win a second European trophy, in 1988 they won the then UEFA Cup. Today, the certain German champions did not lose their 49th competitive game in a row and broke the 59-year-old European record of Benfica Lisbon.
“I get goosebumps, you dream of matches like this your whole career,” Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka told RTL television. “I don’t even know how we could lose 0:2, we had a lot of chances, but that happens in football. In the end, we did it again, we equalized and now we’re in the final. It’s a dream come true,” added the Swiss international.
Hložek, Kovář and Schick followed up with goalkeeper Tomáš Vaclík, who, as the last Czech until now, watched his Sevilla win over Inter Milan from the bench in the Europa League final four years ago.
Leverkusen had more of the game, in the best chances of the first half, but after half an hour Palacios hit the post and Hložek in the 39th minute sent a volley from close range only to the lying goalkeeper Svilar. Soon came a penalty on the other side. The move kept Azmún in the box, and referee Makkelie ordered a penalty, which Paredes converted with clarity in the middle of the goal. Kovář did not keep his sixth clean sheet in his 11th start in the competition.
Despite conceding a goal, the home team entered the second half well. The active Hložek also had one of the chances, but today he did not follow up on the three assists from Sunday’s league duel in Frankfurt. On the contrary, in the 63rd minute, after a corner kick, he played with his hand in his own goal, and Paredes leveled the score from the second penalty.
A quarter of an hour before the end, Hložka was replaced at the point of attack by Schick, who in the 82nd minute made a mistake in the decisive moment of the game. Goalkeeper Svilar, after a fight with the Czech striker, jumped up from a corner kick and the surprised stopper Mancini knocked the ball into his own net. In the last action of the match, substitute Stanišič also extended Leverkusen’s unbeaten streak after the break.
“It hurts, we had the result in our hands, we played a great game until the 82nd minute. Unfortunately, an own goal changed everything,” Argentine midfielder Paredes regretted in an interview with Sky Sport Italia.
Bayer returned last year’s elimination to AS in the semi-finals of the competition and continues to hold the chance to win three trophies in the season. He is also in the game in the German Cup, in which he will face the second division Kaiserslautern in the final.
Bergamo’s players shot twice into the goal structure in the opening act, but after half an hour, they already had to wait. Lookman guided the ball to the center outside the penalty area and opened the scoring with a spot-kick. In addition, in the 52nd minute, the English striker hit the ball to Ruggeri, who added the second goal with an uncompromising shot under the crossbar.
Marseille was unable to respond, substitute Touré added a safety in the set-up. In two weeks in the Irish capital, Atalanta can win only the second trophy in the club’s history, having only won the Italian Cup in the 1962/63 season.
The second leg of the semifinals of the football Europa League:
Atalanta Bergamo – Olympique Marseille 3:0 (1:0)
Goals: 30. Lookman, 52. Ruggeri, 90.+5 Touré. Referee: Manzano – Barbero, Nevado – Munuera (video, all Sp.). ŽK: Éderson, De Roon (both Bergamo). First match 1:1, Bergamo advanced.
Bergamo: Women – De Roon, Hien, Djimsiti – Zappacosta (76. Hateboer), Koopmeiners, Ederson (56. Scalvini), Ruggeri – De Ketelaere (61. Pašalič), Lookman (76. Toure) – Scamacca (56. Mirančuk) . . . . Coach: Gasperini.
Marseille: Lopez – Mbemba (59. Unahi), Gigot, Balerdi – Clauss (72. Moumbagna), Veretout, Kondogbia, Merlin (72. Luis Henrique) – Harit (84. Correa), Ndiaye (59. Sarr) – Aubameyang. Trainer: Gasset.
Bayer Leverkusen – AS Roma 2:2 (0:1)
Goal: Mancini’s 82nd, 90th+7 Stanišič – 43rd from pen. and 66. from pen. Paredes. Referees: Makkelie – Steegstra, De Vries – Dieperink (video, all Dutch). ŽK: Tapsoba, Tah, Wirtz – Mancini, Paredes, Zalewski. First match 2:0, Leverkusen advanced.
Leverkusen: Kovář – Frimpong (90. Stanišič), Tah, Tapsoba, Hincapié – Xhaka, Palacios – Adlí, Hofmann (81. Wirtz), Grimaldo (90. Kossounou) – Hložek (75. Schick). Coach: Alonso.
Rome: Svilar – Cristante, Mancini, N’Dicka, Angelěno (81. Smalling) – Pellegrini (81. Abraham), Paredes, Spinazzola (21. Zalewski) – El Shaarawy, Lukaku, Azmún (72. Bove). Coach: De Rossi.
2024-05-09 21:05:04
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