Record-extending Leverkusen has one one foot in the Europa League nal
Bayer Leverkusen has one foot in the Europa League nal after winning 2-0 at Roma on Thursday to extend its remarkable unbeaten run to 47 matches.
Goals in each half from Florian Wirtz and Robert Andrich ensured victory for Xabi Alonso’s men in the Italian capital and gave the Bundesliga champion a great chance of reaching the nal in Dublin later this month.
Leverkusen will meet either Atalanta or Marseille in Ireland should they hold out in Germany next week.
Wirtz nets Leverkusen’s first against Roma.
On the evidence of its performance in Rome it will be rm favourite to win its rst European trophy since the old UEFA Cup in 1988.
Alonso’s team has needed a string of last gasp goals to keep its unbeaten run going in recent weeks but
there was no need for any frantic nishes in the Italian capital as Leverkusen’s superiority was fully on display.
Roma face a huge task if they are to reach a third European nal in as many years after barely troubling Matej Kovar’s goal beyond
Romelu Lukaku striking the woodwork with the scores level.
Finely poised
Marseille’s seminal tie against Atalanta is nely poised going into the return after the teams drew 1-1 in Thursday’s rst leg in France.
Gianluca Scamacca gave Atalanta an early lead to silence a huge crowd at a packed Velodrome, but Chancel Mbemba quickly pulled Marseille level with a stunning strike from outside the box.
The results (semifinals, first legs): AS Roma 0 lost to Bayer Leverkusen 2 (Wirtz 28, Andrich 73); Marseille 1 (Mbemba 20) drew with Atalanta 1 (Scamacca 11).