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It took a last-gasp equalizer, but Bayer Leverkusen reached the Europa League final and broke a 59-year-old record to be four games shy of an unprecedented season behind the Invincibles.
For the fourth time in their last six games, Xabi Alonso’s men salvaged a late draw to extend their unbeaten run of 49 matches in all competitions, surpassing the bar set by the wonderful Benfica team of the 1960s.
Leverkusen also scored 17 goals in the 90th minute or later (excluding extra time), the most of any team in Europe’s five most sensible leagues, along with Liverpool.
Their hopes of remaining unbeaten were in jeopardy after losing 2-0 at home in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals against Roma, who they had beaten by the same score a week earlier.
An own goal in the 82nd minute gave Leverkusen a 3-2 aggregate lead and put them back on course for triumph in this month’s final in Dublin, but they refused to settle for keeping their three-pointer dream alive and Josip Stanisic levelled the score. night with pretty much the final goal. kick of the game.
? BAYER NEVERLUSEN ? They did it again!#UEL ? @tntsports
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2024
Only two Bundesliga games remain, from which they were crowned champions for the first time last month: a Europa League spotlight against Atalanta who beat Liverpool and a DFB-Pokal final against Kaiserslautern, the lower league, between a club formerly nicknamed “Neverkusen. “and arguably the most important season in the history of European football.
Thursday’s game saw them dangerously come to waste it when they conceded two penalties scored by Leandro Paredes to put Roma ahead 2-0 at the BayArena.
ROMA IS ALL SQUARE! Leandro ?Paredes scores from the penalty spot as Roma equalise against Leverkusen! ⚖️ #UEL ? @tntsports
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2024
But, as they had done before, they then laid siege to their opponents’ goals and Gianluca Mancini scored an own goal before Stanisic found the back corner in the 7th minute of stoppage time.
Leverkusen winger Jérémie Frimpong told TNT Sports: “We did it again. I think this is the most productive one so far. You can see how intense it isArray is the most productive feeling.
“We had to work very hard. It’s the semi-final of the Europa League against a wonderful team. We were the most wonderful team and the team won.
“It’s not right. We were still missing something, but this season we’ve been phenomenal. They can’t exclude us for a second.
He added: “No one gives up. Everyone knows that if we lose, we will score a goal. Well, we made it 2-1 and qualified, but we wanted more. “
Midfielder Granit Xhaka, who has yet to taste defeat for the new German champions since arriving from Arsenal last summer, said: “You can see the team’s preference. We didn’t need to slow down. We’re looking to score the next goal. to remain undefeated. 49 times now. We’re proud of that.
On Atalanta, who beat Marseille 3-0 tonight and 4-1 on aggregate in the other semi-final, he added: “We have a lot of respect for Atalanta and, above all, we are satisfied to be in the final. Now we have time to prepare and analyse, but we still have some games left.
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