ROME (AP) — An imposing stadium in one of the world’s top foreign capitals did nothing to stop Bayer Leverkusen’s record-breaking unbeaten streak across Europe.
The newly crowned Bundesliga champions silenced the Stadio Olimpico for the first time with a 2-0 win in Rome in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday to extend their unbeaten run to 47 games in all competitions.
No club in Europe’s five most sensible leagues – Germany, England, Italy, Spain and France – has enjoyed a longer unbeaten run.
“We take things game by game and we don’t think we’re unbeaten,” Leverkusen midfielder Amine Adli said. “We don’t think we’re going to make history or things like that. That’s why we play like this and that’s why the team is strong. We just need to have fun. “
The result also marked something of revenge for Leverkusen, as Roma had beaten the German club on the same level last season in their last defeat in Europe.
“We know it’s not easy to play here,” Adli said. We played a very serious game. “
Leverkusen’s last defeat in all competitions was a 3-0 loss to Bochum in the last round of the Bundesliga last season almost a year ago, on May 27, 2023.
Roma were damaging with an early header off the crossbar from Romelu Lukaku, but then Leverkusen scored on the counterattack seven minutes later.
A failed backpass from Roma right-back Rick Karsdorp, pressured by Alex Grimaldo on the left flank, resulted in a 3-on-1 for Leverkusen. Grimaldo then passed the pass to Florian Wirtz, who inserted himself from the center of the box.
Midfielder Robert Andrich scored Leverkusen’s goal in the 73rd minute with a long-range shot, just as Roma threatened at the other end.
In the semi-final, Atalanta drew 1-1 in Marseille.
The return stages will take place next Thursday and the final will take place in Dublin on May 22.
Leverkusen has only won one European trophy: the 1988 UEFA Cup, which was then the predecessor of the Europa League. Their only other European final came in the 2002 Champions League, won by Real Madrid.
Roma are aiming to qualify for their third consecutive European final after winning the Europa Conference League in 2022 and squandering last year’s Europa League final against Sevilla on penalties.
Daniele De Rossi Jose Mourinho as Roma coach in January.
The Giallorossi hadn’t lost a European knockout game at home in seven years, since a 1-0 win over Villarreal in the 2017 Europa League.
The pre-match choreography of Roma fans at one end of the stadium spelled out the word “AVANZIAMO” (“Let’s move on”). But Roma now face a tough challenge against Leverkusen, who have not lost all season.
Marseille’s players received a standing ovation at the Stade Vélodrome from their struggling fans after the draw against Atalanta, which eliminated Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
Atalanta took the lead in the 11th minute when striker Gianluca Scamacca fired low into the back corner after reading Teun Koopmeiners’ pass.
But Marseille equalized in the 20th minute when central defender Chancel Mbemba collected a pass from Geoffrey Kondogbia and his shot from the edge of the box hit the left post and rolled over.
The second half was almost entirely one-sided as Marseille advanced. Winger Ismaïla Sarr had a goal disallowed for offside following a video review and substitute Azzedine Ounahi hit the crossbar with a curling shot in the 73rd minute.
In the first leg of the semi-finals of the third-tier competition, Aston Villa’s hopes of reaching their first European final since 1982 were marred by a 4-2 home defeat to Olympiakos, the first defeat at Villa Park in the European crusade by the last English club in Europe.
Villa came back from a 2-0 draw but could not respond to Ayoub El Kaabi’s third goal of the match. The striker came on from the penalty spot to make it 3-2 for his eighth goal at the festival this season. Santiago Hezze headed home before Douglas Luiz wasted a penalty for Villa.
Olympiakos intends to play the final at home on May 29 in Athens.
Earlier, El Kaabi had scored two goals in less than an hour to take the lead.
In Florence, substitute M’Bala Nzola scored in stoppage time for last year’s runners-up Fiorentina to secure a 3-2 win over Club Brugge, reduced to 10 men.
Brugge’s Raphael Onyedika was sent off after picking up his second yellow card on the hour mark when the Italian club led 2-1, but the visitors equalised through Igor Thiago to complete a counter-attack minutes later.
Riccardo Sottil gave Fiorentina the lead early on, Brugge captain Hans Vanaken equalised from the penalty spot and then Andrea Belotti regained Fiorentina’s lead with a rebound.
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AP Sports editors Jerome Pugmire in Paris and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.
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