“Let’s reach for the stars” was the message of an elaborate choreography performed by the supporters of Bayer Leverkusen. The longing for lasting success was great before the Werkself’s semi-final second leg against AS Roma.
But on the way there, an extremely powerful opponent stood in their way, who didn’t use any Jedi power, but worked out a 0-0 draw on the Rhine with defensive, delaying and destruction football. The flight of the team coached by Xabi Alonso has come to an end. “We were missing a goal and a bit of luck. But honestly: I’m proud of my boys and everyone who was in the stadium. It was an incredible atmosphere,” said Kerem Demirbay on RTL.
However, Leverkusen certainly hadn’t played badly against this spectacularly well-defended opponent. The Romans did get the first dangerous shot when Lorenzo Pellegrini fired an attempt from 18 meters just wide of the post (2nd), but the Rhinelanders then dominated the game with a well-balanced mixture of control and risk-taking.
Work in the spirit of the coach
Chances were scarce at first, but the brilliant Florian Wirtz had some good ideas, and one of his passes from deep led to the most dangerous situation of the first half: Moussa Diaby’s powerful finish from a fairly tight angle that slammed the bar over the short corner ( 12.).
AS Roma, on the other hand, defended and worked in the spirit of their coach, José Mourinho. The Italians couldn’t prevent every long-range shot, but with their strategy they successfully prevented a real pressure phase with a series of Leverkusen chances that could have finally ignited the stadium. A header from Sardar Azmoun before the break was promising for Leverkusen, but the Iranian didn’t execute it with enough determination (29′).
In most phases, however, the Werkself couldn’t find any gaps in the Roman defense despite all the effort, feet and bodies were everywhere. And when Azmoun finally broke through after a long ball, Cristante grabbed his arm and fell, which the referee left unpunished, although a free-kick and even a red card could have gone for the Italian (37′). .
It was “not easy to know what’s going on in José’s head,” said Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso before the game about Mourinho, under whom he had played as a midfield strategist at Real Madrid for three years. However, it was relatively easy to see what plan the legendary Portuguese coach had in mind for the evening.
Sparsely occupied bank
With a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, the Romans didn’t attach much importance to their own possession and defended their own goal with a deep five-man chain, which was supported by three very hard-working defensive midfielders in front of it. The fast Leverkusen wingers didn’t have enough space for the pace and they couldn’t find their way into the opposing penalty area with combinations and dribbles either.
The longer the game lasted, the more relevant Bayer 04’s sparsely occupied bench gained, with Amine Adli, Nadiem Amiri and Adam Hlozek being the only players who were almost completely unknown. And of course Callum Hudson-Odoi, who is apparently so weak that he has played practically no role in recent weeks.
AS Roma’s style of play gets on the nerves of the Leverkusen pros,
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Image: AP
Eventually Adli came on for Mitchel Bakker and Hlozek for Exequiel Palacios, but the game went more and more in the direction Roma wanted. It got emotional, many duels led to discussions, Romans often lay on the pitch and extended the many game interruptions, while the Leverkusen team was running out of time.
Only long-range shots from Demirbay (67′) and Jonathan Tah (78′) continued to pose a threat, but Azmoun missed the greatest chance when he missed the goal unchallenged from twelve meters (80′). There was a lack of luck and one moment, one resounding moment and maybe a little quality.
The Werkself had reached a European semi-final for the first time since 2002, but the final will be played without Bayer 04. After all, the coach Xabi Alonso, who has become interesting for several clubs due to his successes, said during the week that he will definitely fulfill his contract with the Rhinelanders, which runs until the summer of 2024. That’s a nice consolation, because this team is far from having reached the end of its development in its cooperation with this coach.