Football draw in West Ham
Leverkusen moves into the Europa League semi-finals with a record
Status: 18.04.2024 | Reading time: 4 minutes
Jeremie Frimpong is the joker who gives Leverkusen their 44th game in a row without defeat
Quelle: AP/Kin Cheung
Bayer Leverkusen remains unbeaten in their 44th game in a row – a new record in Europe. In the second leg of the Europa League at West Ham United, the equalizer came late again. By winning the first leg, the new German champions will move into the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Bayer Leverkusen is in the semi-finals of the Europa League. Four days after winning the German soccer championship, coach Xabi Alonso’s team drew 1-1 (0-1) at West Ham United in London. Leverkusen won the first leg 2-0 and therefore still has the chance of the first treble in the club’s history.
Substitute Jeremie Frimpong scored for Leverkusen in the 89th minute after Michail Antonio (13th) had given West Ham the lead. In seven previous games, Leverkusen had only avoided defeats from the 90th minute onwards.
It is also the 44th competitive game of the season without a defeat for Leverkusen. The team has thus replaced Juventus Turin as the European record holder. The Italians were undefeated in 43 consecutive games from May 2011 to May 2012. In the semi-finals, Team Alonso will now play against AS Roma on May 2nd and 9th and will have home advantage in the second leg.
Coach Xabi Alonso said before the game on RTL that they had enjoyed winning the title a bit, but since Tuesday their full attention has been on the duel in London. “The 2-0 is dangerous, we have to play well with a good mentality, with our style,” warned the Spaniard. He expected an aggressive game from the “Hammers” and recalled SC Freiburg’s 5-0 defeat in the Europa League round of 16.
Michail Antonio gave West Ham United the lead
What: REUTERS
At the beginning, the Leverkusen team were careful not to let the hosts get going by making lots of passes in their own ranks. But the plan was already canceled in the 13th minute. A bad pass from the uncertain Odilon Kossounou, who had already been warned in the 5th minute, gave Jarrod Bowen unexpected possession of the ball. His cross from the half field came precisely to the powerful striker Michail Antonio, who headed the ball into the net.
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Driven by the majority of the 60,000 spectators in the London Stadium, the hosts then repeatedly put Leverkusen under pressure. In particular, the defense of the new German champions acted carelessly. Josip Stanicsic underestimated a long ball in the 19th minute and gave Mohammed Kudus the next good chance to score, which goalkeeper Matej Kovar thwarted as well as Bowen’s opportunity (25th). Alonso reacted and brought on Edmond Tapsoba for the indisposed Kossounou in the 29th minute.
Then it became turbulent: After a verbal skirmish between the coaching benches with a red card for West Ham’s assistant coach Billy McKinlay and Alonso’s assistant Sebastian Parilla (30th), the players also clashed on the pitch. When the pack was broken up, referee José María Sánchez showed Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah and Antonio yellow.
Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah and Robert Andrich are happy about the ticket for the semi-finals
Quelle: Getty Images/Richard Heathcote
While the Premier League club dominated the game through effort, there was no sign of Leverkusen’s much-praised offensive art. Only Nathan Tella (11th) tested West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski. Alonso wanted to change that in the second half and brought on Victor Boniface for Patrik Schick and Jeremie Frimpong for Tella.
With the realignment, Leverkusen gained more security and got a better grip on the game, but without creating any compelling scoring opportunities. At the same time, West Ham had to pay tribute to the high tempo of the first 45 minutes and retreated more and more instead of constantly applying pressure as before. After Frimpong shot over the goal from a free stand in the 83rd minute, the Dutchman scored shortly before the end of regular time.
Klopp and Schmidt are out
However, the evening was disappointing for Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool FC: The Reds won the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final at Atalanta Bergamo 1-0 (1-0), but that wasn’t enough after the surprising 0-3 (0: 1)-Defeat in the first leg at the home stadium at Anfield Road.
Mohamed Salah quickly gave Liverpool the lead with a hand penalty (7th minute) and fueled hopes of a comeback. The Reds had the advantage in the game afterwards, but were unable to take advantage of their better scoring opportunities.
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Another German coach, Roger Schmidt, also missed the semi-finals. The coach of Benfica Lisbon had to go to penalties after the 0:1 (0:0) after 120 minutes at Olympique Marseille, which his team lost 2:4.
After the Portuguese won 2-1 (1-0) in the first leg, Faris Moumbagna (79th) scored the goal that led to another 30 minutes. Since there were no goals in stoppage time, the missed shots from Angel di Maria and Antonio Silva decided the outcome.
AS Roma wins 2-1 against AC Milan
In the Italian quarter-final duel, Leverkusen’s semi-final opponent AS Roma beat AC Milan 2-1 (2-0). Gianluca Mancini (12th) gave Rome an early lead, Paulo Dybala (22nd) followed up – and Roma seemed to easily progress thanks to the 1-0 first leg win.
But then Mehmet Zeki Celik was shown red in the 31st minute and the hosts had to continue playing for around an hour with one man less. But the guest only got one goal from Matteo Gabbia (85th).