NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Bayer Leverkusen reached the Europa League final and a stoppage-time goal extended their unbeaten run to 49 games.
Xabi Alonso’s side looked headed for their first defeat of the season on Thursday night when two goals from Leandro Paredes levelled the aggregate draw for Roma.
But an own goal from Gianluca Mancini gave Leverkusen a 3-2 lead before Josip Stanisic drew 2-2 as the Bundesliga champions maintained their unbeaten run this season.
With a draw against Roma, Leverkusen now have the longest unbeaten streak in European football history, surpassing Benfica’s record of 48 defeats in all competitions between December 1963 and February 1965.
Leverkusen will now face Atalanta, who beat Marseille 3-0 in the other semi-final on Thursday night, in the Europa League final in Dublin on May 22.
Alonso’s side, who sealed their Bundesliga victory last month, remain on course for an unprecedented unbeaten treble as they will also face Cologne in the DFB-Pokal final on May 25.
Speaking after Leverkusen’s win, Granit Xhaka told TNT Sports: “Much more deserved. If you look at the total game, we had a lot of chances. That’s football. That’s the football component.
“For the mentality we showed at the back, a wonderful team to come back like this and qualify for the final. We are more than satisfied. “
“You can see the preference of the team, we didn’t have to slow down. We tried to score the next goal to remain undefeated, 49 times so far. We are proud of it.
“Roma are a team that enjoys a lot and does things very well, but I think in two games the bigger team went through to the final. “
Speaking about facing Atalanta in the Europa League final, Xhaka said: “We have a lot of respect for Atalanta and, first of all, we are satisfied to be in the final.
“Now we have time to prepare and analyse, but we still have a few games to play. “
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