There was no hiding from the scale of the challenge, no reason for the usual grumbling at the conservative set-up of David Moyes and his West Ham team.
For 83 minutes here in Leverkusen, facing a side unbeaten in 41 matches, the plan was if not quite working to perfection then on course to reap reward. The scores goalless, the Hammers were within sight of the prize, a return flight home to London and next week’s second leg on equal terms.
At the last, though, they crumbled, first Jonas Hofmann and then, crucially, Victor Boniface striking to wrestle control of this quarter-final tie.
Moyes has plotted European comebacks before, including against Freiburg only last month, but never against a team this good, on this kind of roll, now 42 matches without loss this season and still on course for a historic treble.
Even prior to that late double whammy, the consensus that 0-0 would have been a take-it-and-run result may just have wavered slightly, Moyes by then in the knowledge that he would have to do without both Lucas Paqueta and Emerson for next week’s second leg after both picked up yellow cards.
The Scot’s squad is thinning badly, Edson Alvarez, Jarrod Bowen, Alphonse Areola and Kalvin Phillips all missing here and ultimately that told.
Leverkusen’s scorers both came off the bench, refreshing an attack that briefly looked in danger of running out of ideas, while Moyes declined to make a change until four minutes from time, even then sending on defenders Nayef Aguerd and Ben Johnson in the futile hope of keeping the deficit to a single goal.
Instead, weary legs were slow out to Leverkusen’s short corner in stoppage time, Hofmann allowed time to pick his cross and Boniface rising above Kurt Zouma to head home.
In truth, Moyes’s lack of action was understandable, his bench heavily populated by youth academy graduates. Perhaps he might have taken off the outstanding, but tiring Michail Antonio, but neither Maxwel Cornet nor Danny Ings offer anything like the same outlet, the Jamaican the Hammers’s sole source of reprieve all night.
Antonio shines but West Ham need competition
The tale of how, now more than 300 appearances into his West Ham career, Antonio remains West Ham’s first-choice striker features a remarkable cast of potential usurpers, each seen off in fashion to suggest the position may well be cursed.
One, Sebastien Haller, had been on target in a Champions League quarter-final for Borussia Dortmund 24 hours earlier. Another, Gianluca Scamacca, was scoring twice for Atalanta at Anfield on Thursday night.
But on nights like these, Moyes, you sense, would not swap Antonio for anyone.
For as long as his legs allowed, the striker was outstanding, twice forging openings on the counter-attack from less than nothing and single-handedly giving those Premier League clubs reported to be courting Leverkusen captain Jonathan Tah pause for thought.
The first, on 10 minutes, ought to have given West Ham a priceless opener, the lumbering Tah left for dead as Antonio surged away down the left and pulled back for Mohammed Kudus. Strangely hesitant all night, though, the Ghanaian went at his shot without conviction and steered straight at Matej Kovar.
For the second, the 34-year-old juggled over one, then two Leverkusen defenders, again running away into the channel but this time finding his cross to Paqueta off target, though the covering defender had tracked well in any case.
Not for the first time in this, or many recent seasons, it was West Ham's lack of cover and competition at centre-forward that cost them dear.
Lucas Paqueta fails to keep his cool
It was referee Artur Dias who failed to yellow card Paqueta as the Brazilian went on a comical fouling spree in last month’s friendly against England at Wembley.
Here, though, the Portuguese was in less forgiving mood, booking the midfielder inside the opening quarter of the contest and, in the process, ensuring he will miss next week’s second leg through suspension.
The foul in question, on Amine Adli, was born of self-inflicted frustration after Paqueta had needlessly lost the ball moments earlier and the red mist briefly threatened to descend, a second challenge on Florian Wirtz minutes later going unpunished beyond the award of a home free-kick.
On the eve of the game, Moyes had urged his team to show composure and avoid the mistakes of their run in this competition two years ago, when Aaron Cresswell’s semi-final red card against Eintracht Frankfurt proved so costly.
Paqueta, to his credit, recovered his poise thereafter and his bravery in possession stood as an example to panicked team-mates, for all few of them are blessed with the same gifts.
With Jarrod Bowen already a significant doubt for Thursday’s return fixture, though, his absence is a doubly heavy blow. West Ham have won just once without their record signing all season - and that was against Lincoln City of League One.
Cornet has seldom been trusted this season and the most likely candidate to slot into the attack may well have been full-back Emerson had he, too, not picked up a third yellow card of the campaign soon after the interval.
