Right then, I’ll be off. It’s been an absolute blast. Bye!
Jeremie Frimpong is incredibly cheerful:
You could see how intense it is. The best feeling. We had to dig so deep, it was such a difficult match. Semi-final, Europa League, against a top team. Two penalties. We were the better team, so the better team won. Nothing was going in. I had a big chance as well. This season we’ve just been phenomenal. You can’t count us out, not even for a second. I think it’s just the team bond we have. No one gives up. We have this feeling, on the pitch. It’s amazing, to beat Roma. They were talking a lot, so I’m happy.
Josip Stanisic is 24, a defender who plays across the backline but isn’t known for his goal threat: tonight’s was just the seventh goal of his career. Tonight, in the 97th minute, he hared down the right flank, cut inside, chopped the ball onto his left foot and produced a calm and absolutely perfect finish. Just remarkable.
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Granit Xhaka has a chat:
I think much more than deserved. We had so many chances, clear chances. But it is football. But the mentality we showed one more time today, against a big team, to come back like this and go through to the final, we are more than happy. You see the desire from the team, even 2-1, 90 minutes, extra time, we didn’t want to slow down the game, we wanted to score the second goal to stay unbeaten.
We had so many chances, even before we need to score. Roma have a lot of experienced players, they do things very good, but I think over two games we were the better team and the better team goes to the final.
We have a lot of respect for Atalanta. We are happy we got to the final. We have time now to analyse the opponents, but before that we have other great weeks to finish
According to Uefa’s statistics Leverkusen had 34 attacks (not sure what one of those is for statistical purposes), and somehow converted them into 32 shots. Thirty-two shots! In a semi-final that they went into with a 2-0 aggregate lead! Roma had 12, and while they’ll feel terribly unfortunate, particularly because of the own goal that definitively turned the tie in Leverkusen’s favour, can have no complaints about the result.
This was a brilliantly entertaining game. Exciting, frustrating, astonishing, pull an adjective out of the big bucket of excited adjectives and chuck it at it.
Here’s Ben Fisher’s report on Aston Villa’s humbling at Olympiacos:
There is a graffiti mural in the north stand – home to the most ardent, impassioned Olympiakos supporters – that displays a mockup of Muhammad Ali standing over his opponent sandwiched between the words: “Piraeus means knock out!” And so it proved for Aston Villa, whose European adventure came to a joyless end in the Greek port.
Unai Emery, a four-time Europa League winner, will not get his hands on the Europa Conference League trophy this season and Villa’s hopes of a first major European trophy since lifting the European Cup in 1982 are over.
Much more here:
Leverkusen will play Atalanta in the final, the Italians having eased past Marseille 3-0 tonight, and 4-1 on aggregate.
That is a 49th game unbeaten. It’s beyond astonishing. Leverkusen immediately pull on the celebratory final-qualifying T-shirts they had ready to go.
Sláinte! 🇮🇪🏆
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) May 9, 2024
WE'RE GOING TO DUBLIN BABY! 🖤❤️#B04ASR | #Bayer04 #UEL #aCROSSeurope @EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/nT0G55aBNw
Final score: Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Roma (4-2 on aggregate)
90+9 mins: And that’s it! Roma get the ball onto the centre spot, but don’t get to restart – Leverkusen scored the goal that keeps that unbeaten run going with the final kick of the tie!
90+8 mins: That is astonishing! Stanisic is played down the right, cuts inside, and slides a perfect left-footed shot just inside the far post, just like that, like it’s nothing. Absolute scenes.
GOAL! Leverkusen's unbeaten run goes on! Leverkusen 2-2 Roma!
90+7 mins: Astonishing! Madness! They’ve only gone and done it!
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90+6 mins: Xhaka gets the ball on halfway, jogs about with it in no particular hurry, then wins a free kick.
90+5 mins: Leverkusen break, and Schick has a choice: does he take the ball into the corner and waste some time, or does he play a teammate clean through? His answer is: neither, try to chip the keeper from 50 yards. Goal kick.
90+4 mins: Another corner. Svilar stays back again.
90+3 mins: Leverkusen keep the ball for a while in Roma’s half, out on the right flank and with no hurry to move it infield. From which it seems they’re happy to lose the unbeaten record if it will help them win this tie.
90+2 mins: There will be seven minutes of stoppage time, perhaps a couple more with a fair wind.
90+1 mins: It’s all going on. Leverkusen bring on Stanisic and Kossounou and bring off Frimpong and Grimaldo, there’s some verbals with the Roma bench, and the referee comes over to tell everyone to calm down.
89 mins: What a chance for Leverkusen! They win a free-kick for offside on the edge of their area and must take it very quickly, because the TV cameras completely miss what happens next, but suddenly Frimpong is scampering into a completely empty Roma half! He cuts in from the right and shoots, but Svilar gets his angles right and saves (again)!
87 mins: Another chance for the home side, Frimpong shooting low and hard from the right of goal and Svilar saving with a foot.
86 mins: Well, here’s a question, sent by Marc Hämmerling just before the Leverkusen goal but still worth pondering: “I wonder: Should Leverkusen try not to score if they want to keep their unbeaten record while it is 0-2 and try to get into extratime? What I mean is: Let us suppose the tie ends 1-2. Then Leverkusen will go to the final but their record of being unbeaten is broken. If it is 0-2, then there will be extratime and then Leverkusen have another 30 minutes to get a 2-2.”
84 mins: Amazing that, for all the excellent attacking play we’ve seen tonight, the goals have come from two random crosses defenders generously converted into penalties, and a random cross a defender converted into a goal.
Own goal! Leverkusen 1-2 Roma (3-2 on aggregate)
82 mins: Just as it looks like Leverkusen will never score, Roma do it for them! They have a corner on the right, Svilar comes for it and misses, and it hits the astonished Mancini and bounces in!
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81 mins: An infusion of Englishness as Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling both come on, and Angelino and Pellegrini – perhaps suffering from a cold head – go off.
80 mins: Another miss: Hincapie’s cross is headed over the bar by Frimpong, who was well placed and should have done better.
78 mins: He eventually leaves the field, very slowly, holding an ice pack to his head. There could not be less wrong with him.
75 mins: Pellegrini goes down clutching his head and stays there, forcing the referee to stop the game. The physios come back on. Turns out the only thing that made contact with his head was the ball, and even that pretty gently.
74 mins: Leverkusen make their first change, taking off Hlosek and bringing on Patrik Schick.
73 mins: Big miss! Tah’s low 30-arder hits Adli, who from about 15 yards spins, shoots, and sends the ball just wide!
72 mins: Azmoun goes down, Roma’s physios come on, and eventually Edoardo Bove comes on to replace him.
68 mins: Leverkusen have been the better team by a decent margin, but they haven’t been good enough in front of goal. Svilar has made a few decent saves, but he’s not been called upon to do anything remarkable.
GOAL! Leverkusen 0-2 Roma (2-2 on aggregate)
Paredes scores again! It’s an excellent penalty, tucked just inside the left-hand post while the keeper goes the wrong way.
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Roma have another penalty!
65 mins: It’s another slightly odd penalty, in that like the first the offence didn’t really stop Roma doing anything much, but it is a penalty!
64 mins: The referee has been invited to watch the incident at the VAR monitor. Hlosek’s right arm was in an unnatural position. I’ve got no idea why it was where it was, he certainly wasn’t seeking any kind of advantage, but the ball hit it.
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63 mins: They break, ending with Hofmann shooting wildly from the edge of the area. But I think this is going to be called back for another penalty.
62 mins: Roma win a corner, and though Leverkusen clear lots of players in white think there was a handball involved.
61 mins: Leverkusen’s quickfire passing in and around the penalty area is superb, but sometimes they could probably get a shot away a little earlier. This move ends with Hlosek eventually shooting too close to Svilar, who saves.
59 mins: And then Leverkusen break – it’s three against two, and really should be converted, but it ends with Hofmann’s shot hitting an onrushing keeper.
58 mins: A long throw from the right for Roma is flicked on, and it takes an excellent volleyed clearance from Tapsoba to deny Roma a tap-in!
56 mins: Azmoun’s 20-yarder is saved and spilled by Kovar, but no Roma player has anticipated the error and Leverkusen clear.
52 mins: Adli’s left-footer whistles a foot wide with Svilar a spectator!
50 mins: The first big chance of the half, though, falls to Roma! Zalewski, who was switched from left to right in the first half because he was so miserably struggling to deal with Frimpong, passes infield to Cristante, who shifts onto his left foot and for a moment looks like he can just pass it into the far post, but a defender gets in the way of the shot!
47 mins: Leverkusen are bossing these opening minutes of the second half, and it doesn’t look like sitting back and defending a slender lead is their kind of thing.
46 mins: The players are out, and they’re right back into it!
“The old cliche has it that a striker who lacks confidence just needs one to go in off his glutes,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Roma just had the team equivalent of that happen, a somewhat absurd penalty has infused them with vim. The second half should be fun.” Well yes, just that. Fun as Leverkusen being excellent is, 2-1 is a more interesting scoreline at this point than 3-0.
OK, I’ve seen a replay, in slow motion and with a zoomed in bit, and Tah probably did briefly grab Azmoun, so it was a foul and thus a penalty. Danny Makkelie, I apologise for doubting you.
The subplot here is that both Leverkusen centre-backs have now been booked, as have two Roma defenders and their central midfielder. There seems a decent chance of a red card happening at some point.
Half time: Leverkusen 0-1 Roma (2-1 on aggregate)
45+4 mins: A relatively calm few minutes to end the half. It’s been a wildly entertaining and occasionally just wild 45 minutes, and it ends with a wildly unlikely scoreline.
45+1 mins: There’s going to be four minutes of stoppage time, give or take.
45 mins: A brilliant ball in from the right and Roma nearly have a second, but under pressure Tapsoba turns it behind, rather than into, the goal!
GOAL! Roma 1-0 Leverkusen (Paredes, 43 mins) - 2-1 on aggregate
Paredes blasts it down the middle, as Kovar dives out the way. This scoreline, and the penalty award that led to it, is an affront to all sporting decency.
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42 mins: That is super harsh. Tah is booked, which is really ludicrous. He vaguely touched someone who wouldn’t have got anywhere near the ball.
Roma have a penalty!
41 mins: The ball comes into the box and Lukaku heads it wide, but the referee thinks Tah has pulled Azmoun back off the ball!
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39 mins: Now Svilar is forced into a double save! After excellent build-up play from Leverkusen he dives to his right to stop Adli’s volley but the ball falls to Hlosek, whose first-time effort is also stopped!
38 mins: Leverkusen have had 13 goal attempts, more than one every three minutes. Jonas Hofmann has the latest, from 20 yards or so, but it goes wide.
36 mins: Roma had a bright start, but haven’t had a meaningful kick for about 20 minutes.
34 mins: Frimpong slides the ball across goal, but nobody’s there to turn it in.
32 mins: A proper save now from Svilar, who dives to his right to fingertip Frimpong’s curler away from the far post. A home goal is well overdue at this point.
29 mins: Palacios hits the post! It’s a low shot, sidefooted from the edge of the D, struck with great accuracy but very little venom. It goes past Svilar, hits the post, hits the keeper’s back, rolls gently towards the goalline and is cleared.
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29 mins: Now Zalewski pulls back Frimpong, and he’s in the book too.
28 mins: Paredes kicks the heels of Palacios, who is being victimised a bit and is so upset about this foul that he goes down, semi-leaps up and then goes down again, just to make his point completely clear. Paredes is booked.
25 mins: Roma seem to be trying to make this game as bad-tempered as possible. Azmoun jumps into Palacios, with absolutely no chance of winning the ball, and then gestures to suggest that he’s cheating and should get up. Hlosek takes the free-kick, which dips dramatically and is turned over the bar by Svilar.
23 mins: Another great chance! The ball is slid across to Hlosek, who takes one touch to control it but before he can take his shot, from a position where he was very unlikely to miss, Mancini throws himself in the way and the ball deflects wide!
22 mins: Another chance! Finally the corner is taken, and Adli wins but completely fluffs the header, from the edge of the six-yard box!
21 mins: Spinazzola was genuinely injured, and Nicola Zalewski comes on to replace him. However, play to the whistle, isn’t it?
19 mins: Spinazzola limps a bit and then goes to ground. He seems to think the game should stop at this point but Frimpong ignores him, runs down the right and sends in a low cross, which is turned behind. Loads of Roma players promptly surround Frimpong, various Leverkusen players go to back him up, and at the end of it Mancini and Tapsoba are booked.
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17 mins: And a chance for Roma! It falls to Pellegrini, whose header is stoppaed by Kovar. I must admit I missed it, because I was watching the goal Villa conceded at Olympiacos, where they now trail 5-2 on aggregate.
A nightmare start for Villa 😬
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2024
Ayoub El Kaabi was unmarked ⚽️#UECL | 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/faqo7CsTyK
16 mins: Save! Palacios exchanges passes with Hofmann, shifts the ball into space and hammers the ball goalwards, but it’s down the middle, and Svilar saves.
14 mins: Lukaku is making a lot of runs. He’s constantly sticking his hand up and setting off into space behind the Leverkusen backline. Most of them are being ignored.
11 mins: Hlosek has another shot, again hitting a defender.
9 mins: End-to-end stuff, this. “Big philosophical question of the night,” writes Toby Cohen, in a message clearly sent before kick-off, “many would say it’s just half-time in this tie, so does that mean if Leverkusen lose tonight by one goal, and so win their place in the final, their unbeaten record should be considered intact?” I guess it’s open to debate, but I’d say no, it shouldn’t.
7 mins: Xhaka’s pass finds Hlosek running into Roma’s penalty area, but his shot hits Mancini.
4 mins: Half a chance for Roma! An excellent lofted crossfield pass finds Lukaku running past the last defender, but his chest control isn’t good enough, and though Koval is a bit slow to come out he’s close enough to the ball when the Belgian gets to it that he can’t chip it over him.
2 mins: Piero Hincapie and Bryan Cristante have a bit of a tussle on the right flank, and after the ball goes out for a free-kick the Roma midfielder goads him with a gesture I frankly struggle to interpret – it was almost a shushing finger over the lips, except it was a finger over the chin and maybe the bottom lip if you’re lucky. It’s all a bit bad tempered and the referee has a chat with them.
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1 min: Peeeep! And they’re off!
Place yourselves into the brace position. This is about to happen.
And out they pop! The tournament anthem has been blasted out, and hands are being shaken.
The players have gathered in the tunnel. It seems to have quite a large TV studio in it.
“This delicious clash between the managerial versions of Alonso and De Rossi takes me right back to 12 years ago, when their fresher-faced player selves battled each other on the pitch in the Euro 2012 Final in Kyiv,” writes Peter Oh. “Xabi had a much more enjoyable day than Daniele back then, which I reckon will be the case again today.”
Here’s the Guardian’s report on that game:
So both teams make three changes from the first leg. Dybala is on the bench for Roma. Here are the match officials getting ready for action. They’ve certainly pulled their socks up.
The teams!
Team news is in, and here it all is!
Bayer Leverkusen: Kovar, Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie, Frimpong, Palacios, Xhaka, Grimaldo, Hofmann, Hlozek, Adli. Subs: Hradecky, Stanisic, Kossounou, Andrich, Iglesias, Wirtz, Arthur, Schick, Tella, Boniface, Puerta, Lomb.
Roma: Svilar, Spinazzola, N’Dicka, Mancini, Angelino, Cristante, Paredes, Pellegrini, Azmoun, Lukaku, El Shaarawy. Subs: Rui Patricio, Karsdorp, Smalling, Abraham, Llorente, Celik, Sanches, Dybala, Aouar, Baldanzi, Bove, Zalewski.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands).
𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙓𝙄 𝙫𝙨 @ASRomaEN
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) May 9, 2024
Your Semi Final second leg #Werkself starters! 😤⚫️🔴#ASRB04 | #Bayer04 #UEL #aCROSSeurope pic.twitter.com/LNLqkXsyB9
🟨📋🟥
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) May 9, 2024
Our starting XI against Bayer Leverkusen! 🐺#ASRoma | #BayerRoma | #UEL pic.twitter.com/n53WcPeitJ
Preamble
Hello world! We are witnessing history, are we not? Tonight Bayer Leverkusen could, at this point should, qualify for their second major European or domestic cup final of the season – this from a club that had previously played in just six – and remain on course for a treble, an achievement that would more than double the total number of significant pots in their trophy cabinet, the most recent of which before this season was secured in 1992-93. They have three games to play this season, or four if they qualify for the Europa League final, and they are yet to lose, an unbeaten run already 48 games long. It is already an achievement beyond description, beyond imagination, and it could tip over into full head-explosion territory before the campaign closes.
Despite losing the first leg 2-0 at home Roma might have something to say about all that. “The fact that they are unbeaten does not mean they are unbeatable,” their coach, Daniele de Rossi, says sagely. Roma reached last year’s Europa League final, knocking Leverkusen out on their way before losing on penalties to Sevilla in the Budapest-based showpiece, and any team with Paulo Dybala and Romelu Lukaku in their squad is a threat. “We are expecting Roma to come with the hope of qualifying,” said Xabi Alonso. Everyone, to be fair, is expecting Roma to hope to qualify. Few at this point think they will actually qualify. Let’s just hope they give it a good go.
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