Goals either side of half-time from Florian Wirtz and Robert Andrich gave Bayer Leverkusen a first-leg advantage in their Europa League semi-final at Roma.
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Bayer Leverkusen took a huge step towards the Europa League final after a deserved 2-0 first-leg win in their last-four clash against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. (Europa League)
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Match in brief: Leverkusen dominate first leg
The away side had needed late levellers to draw each of their last three games but began brightly here, Granit Xhaka missing two chances early on.
Although Roma went much closer when Romelu Lukaku – searching for his 300th club goal – hit the crossbar, it was the visitors who struck first. Wirtz was the scorer with a composed finish, passing the ball into the far corner after Álex Grimaldo had cut back.
Indeed, Leverkusen might have had a second before the break. Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Grimaldo all had good opportunities as Xabi Alonso’s side exerted further pressure, but none could convert.
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Roma started the second half with renewed vigour and might have levelled when Bryan Cristante glanced a close-range header across goal and wide from Paulo Dybala’s corner.
That brief flurry aside, it was Leverkusen who dictated much of the second period as well and they made sure of their win when Robert Andrich curled a glorious effort into the top corner from outside the penalty area 17 minutes from the end.
Francesco Corda, match reporter (Europa League)
“Leverkusen stay unbeaten and move a step closer to the Europa League final in Dublin. The newly-crowned German champions stunned Roma and gained a precious and deserved win in this first leg. It was a nearly perfect game, well organised by their leader on the bench, Xabi Alonso. De Rossi’s side have much work to do next week to reach back-to-back Europa League finals.”
Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen coach: “2-0 is a good result, we go home happy but cautious. What we are doing in this season is outstanding. We have quality players with a very high level of focus, the most difficult thing is to be consistent. We don’t want to stop – we want to go on like this until the end of the season.”
Daniele De Rossi, Roma coach: “We touched with our hands that they are strong. We know that in the return leg, we have to achieve a feat, go and win 2-0 in the stadium of a team that never lost. We will have to go and attack more, giving a performance similar to what we did in the first half.”
Amine Adli, Leverkusen midfielder: “We are very happy. Last year we lost 1-0 here and we went out because of this result. We played a very serious game, we are very happy about it, even if I think we could do better. You can never say the job is done.”
Mile Svilar, Roma goalkeeper: “It was not the night we wanted. The result is not good but anything can happen in football. We have to believe in it ahead of next week and go there to win.”
Key stats (Europa League)
- Leverkusen inflicted Roma’s first home defeat in 14 Europa League knockout matches (W11 D2)
- It was also only Italian side’s second home loss in 33 European fixtures at the Stadio Olimpico (W24 D7).
- Roma have now lost two of their last ten UEFA competition home matches against German teams (W6 D2).
- Leverkusen recorded their first win in ten matches against Italian teams (D2 L7).
- The Bundesliga side have won nine and drawn three of their last 12 fixtures in the UEFA Europa League.
Line-ups (Europa League)
Roma: Svilar; Korsdorp (Angeliño 62), Mancini, Smalling, Spinazzola; Cristante, Paredes (Baldanzi 79), Pellegrini; El Shaarawy, Lukaku (Azmoun 79), Dybala (Abraham 90).
Leverkusen: Kovář; Stanišić, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong (Palacios 88), Andrich, Xhaka, Hincapie; Writz (Hofmann 77), Adli (Tella 77), Grimaldo (Kossounou 90).
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
In the third-tier competition semifinal first legs, Aston Villa’s hopes of reaching a first European final since 1982 were diminished with a 4-2 home loss to Olympiakos, the first defeat at Villa Park in the European campaign for the last English club in European competitions.
Villa came back from 2-0 down but was not able to answer Ayoub El Kaabi’s third goal of the game. The striker converted from the penalty spot to make it 3-2 for his eighth goal in the competition this season. Santiago Hezze finished the scoring before Douglas Luiz wasted a penalty for Villa.
Olympiakos is aiming to play on home soil in the May 29 final in Athens.
Earlier, El Kaabi scored twice within a half hour put the visitors in charge.
In Florence, substitute M’Bala Nzola netted in stoppage time for last-year’s runner-up Fiorentina to secure a 3-2 victory over 10-man Club Brugge.
Brugge’s Raphael Onyedika was sent off after receiving his second yellow card on the hour when the Italian club was 2-1 up but the visitors equalized through Igor Thiago to complete a counter just minutes later.
Riccardo Sottil put Fiorentina ahead early on, Brugge captain Hans Vanaken answered with an equalizer from the penalty spot and then Andrea Belotti restored the lead for Fiorentina on a rebound.