Leverkusen’s key season continued on Thursday night in the Europa League as a guest of West Ham. It advanced to the semi-finals with 3–1 on aggregate.
Leverkusen, who secured the Bundesliga championship at the weekend, did a trick on Thursday night, where they have succeeded so many times before this season.
The German club was close to suffering its first defeat of the season, when West Ham led the match for a couple of minutes before the end of regular time.
Came in from the exchange Jeremy Frimpong however, leveled the game at 1–1 in the 89th minute and stretched Leverkusen’s unbeaten streak to 44 matches.
At the same time, Leverkusen secured their place in the semifinals of the Europa League. It would have scored a goal even in a losing position, as the German club had won the opening match at home 2–0.
As usual, Leverkusen rested the Finnish captain Lukas Hradecky. Czech keeper Matej Kovar has carried most of the blocking responsibility in European games, and so also on Thursday.
Kovar had to surrender already in the 13th minute, when Michael Antonio gave the home team a 1–0 lead.
The head coach Xabi Alonso wasn’t satisfied with his own tackles in the opening period, and groped the defender Odilon Kossounou to change before half an hour of the game had passed. In the second period, however, Leverkusen improved its grip, and it got its reward again at the end of the match.
Leverkusen advanced to the semi-finals with 3–1 on aggregate.
In addition to the Europa League, the team is fighting to win the German Cup. In the final, it will face Kaiserlautern on May 25.
Not a single English team in the Europa League semi-finals
Liverpool, who lost the opening game 0–3 to Atalanta on their home field, despite the victory, did not manage to turn the match pair in favor in Bergamo. Even in the early moments of the match, everything looked good for Liverpool, as the visitors took the lead in the seventh minute. Liverpool received a penalty kick already in the fifth minute when the ball hit the penalty area Matteo Ruggeri on. Mohamed Salah definitely put the ball in the net.
However, the hit was Liverpool’s only one and Atalanta progressed to the Europa League semi-finals with a 3-1 aggregate score.
– First of all, all credit to Atalanta. We were really bad last week and they had a good game. They deserved the next place because we made it too difficult for ourselves. Today’s performance was good from us and we fought well. We improved our game, but the fact is that we are out of it. We must now recover quickly and travel to London on Saturday, Captain Virgin van Dijk commented to TNT Sports.
The past week has been challenging for Liverpool. After last Thursday’s defeat to Atalanta, they lost 0-1 at home to Crystal Palace, making the title fight even more exciting.
Manchester City now leads the Premier League by two points, ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool. Liverpool also needs luck for the Premier League championship, as City’s final schedule is more favorable.
Liverpool face Fulham away on Sunday, while City play Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
No English team managed to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League as Manchester City bowed out to Real Madrid on penalties. With the relegation of West Ham and Liverpool, no English team will be seen in the Europa League semi-finals either.
In the other quarter-final matches, Roma beat AC Milan 2–1 and secured their next place with 3–1 on aggregate.
The last place in the semi-finals was taken by Marseille, who defeated Benfica after a penalty shootout. The Portuguese club had won the opening part 2–1, but Marseille was stronger at home with a score of 1–0.
Leverkusen will face Roma in the semi-finals starting in two weeks. On the other hand, Atalanta will face Marseille.
Aston Villa as the only English team in the semi-finals
In the Football Conference League, Aston Villa secured their place in the semi-finals after some dramatic moments when they beat Lille on penalties.
The French club was still in the playoff spot a few minutes before the end of regular time, when they were leading the match by Yusuf Yazic and Benjamin Andre with goals.
Matty Cash scored Villa’s 1-2 draw in the 87th minute. Since Villa had won the opening match 2–1, in a 3–3 situation, a solution was sought first from the follow-up match and then from the penalty shootout.
The hero of the penalty shootout was the Argentinian keeper who stretched out in front of the ball twice Emiliano Martinez. The confusion was caused by Martinez’s second warning in the penalty shootout. Match referee Ivan Kruzliak had already warned Martinez once during the match, and he received his second yellow card in the penalty shoot-out after fanning himself again in front of the French crowd. Martinez was still allowed to continue the match, because during regular time the warnings received do not carry over to the penalty shootout.
A place in the semi-finals of the Euro competitions was Aston Villa’s first since 1982.
In the second leg, Fiorentina defeated Plzen 2–0 after the follow-on match and advanced to the next round with 2–0 on aggregate.
Club Brügge beat PAOK 2–0 on the away field and secured their place in the semifinals with 3–0 on aggregate. The last semi-final place was taken by Olympiakos. The first leg ended with a 3–2 victory for the Greeks. The Turkish club won the second match 1–0 and extended the decision to a penalty shootout, where Olympiakos won the longer match.