Bayer Leverkusen produced another late show on Thursday to preserve their unbeaten run and by that, qualified for the UEFA Europa League final.
A couple of penalties from AS Roma’s Argentine World Cup winner, Leandro Paredes — the first just before halftime, and the second in the 66th minute, looked almost certain to hand Bayer Leverkusen their first defeat of the season, but they fought back to level the game.
It’s been quite a remarkable season for Bayer Leverkusen under their Spanish manager, Xabi Alonso.
They have now gone 49 games without suffering any defeats.
Their long unbeaten run has culminated in Leverkusen winning the Bundesliga for the very first time in the club’s history, and they are now set to play in two finals: the DFB Pokal final against Kaiserslautern, and the UEFA Europa League final against Atalanta.
Going into the game against AS Roma, Bayer Leverkusen had gone 48 matches unbeaten and had beaten the Italian club 2-0 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final in Rome.
The Roman club needed a big performance if they harboured any hopes of overturning the 2-0 first-leg defeat.
When they raced into a 1-0 lead through Parades’ penalty, Danielle De Rossi’s men knew they were on course to do the job.
Bayer Leverkusen’s task became even more difficult when they fell 2-0 behind. At that point, the tie was tied at 2-2 on aggregate, and the Germain club was 2-0 down; their unbeaten run was being threatened.
For Xabi Alonso‘s men, preserving their unbeaten record was not the immediate concern but just getting a goal to put them ahead on aggregate.
One feature, though, of Bayer Leverkusen’s game this season, is their knack for scoring late goals.
They did it against Qarabag over two legs in the Europa League and did it quite a number of times in the Bundesliga.
They never let their guard down. On Thursday night, they were not ready to let their guard down, as they fought valiantly, and pushed Roma so hard for their goal.
They were given a helping hand through Gianluca Mancini’s own goal after 82 minutes to half the deficit on the night and put them ahead on aggregate.
The goal was what they needed, and if they could keep Roma away from scoring another, even if lost, they would have qualified for the Europa League final on aggregate.
Sláinte! 🇮🇪🏆
WE'RE GOING TO DUBLIN BABY! 🖤❤️#B04ASR | #Bayer04 #UEL #aCROSSeurope @EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/nT0G55aBNw
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) May 9, 2024
At 2-1, they knew their unbeaten run was under threat, so despite being ahead on aggregate they pushed forward for an equalizer.
Bayern Munich loanee, Josip Stanišić — whom Xabi Alonso introduced into the game as a substitute in 90 minutes — picked a pass from Granit Xhaka, on the right flank, drove towards the Roma goal, and his impressive solo run led to Bayer Leverkusen’s equalizer, in the last minute of added time.
Bayer Leverkusen preserved their unbeaten record, but more importantly, they have qualified for the UEFA Europa League final in Dublin, where another Italian club, Atalanta — who also defeated Marseille in the other semi-final over two legs — lay in wait.