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Bayer Leverkusen completed their tenth comeback of the season last minute in the 90th minute and extended their unbeaten streak to 49 games. Stanisic scored 2-2 in the 97th minute, sealing Roma’s elimination. With the magical aura of an invincibility unusual in the last half century in European football, superior in one match to the milestone of Eusebio’s Benfica in 1965, Xabi Alonso’s team qualified for the Europa League final to be played in Dublin , next May 22. There they will face Atalanta, who defeated Marseille 3-0.
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Matej Kovar, Jonathan Tah, Edmond Faycial Tapsoba, Piero Hincapie Reyna, Jeremie Frimpong (Josip Stanisic, 90 minutes), Exequiel Palacios, Xhaka, Grimaldo (90 minutes), Adam Hlozek (Schick, 74 minutes) , Jonas Hofmann (Florian Wirtz, min. 80) and Amine Adli
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Mile Svilar, Tasende (Smalling, min. 80), Gianluca Mancini, Obite Ndicka, Leonardo Spinazzola (Nicola Zalewski, min. 21), Paredes, Cristante, Lorenzo Pellegrini (Tammy Abraham, min. 80), El Shaarawy, Azmoun (Edoardo Bove, min. 71) and Lukaku
Goals 0-1 min. 42: Paredes. 0-2 min. 66: Paredes. 1-2 min. 82: Gianluca Mancini (pp). 2-2 min. 96: Josip Stanisic.
Referee Danny Makkelie
Yellow cards Lorenzo Pellegrini (min. 20), Paredes (min. 27), Nicola Zalewski (min. 28), Jonathan Tah (min. 41) and Florian Wirtz (min. 89)
Resentment fuels passions. Sardar Azmoun was rejected by Bayer Leverkusen after two up-and-down seasons. At the age of 28, he was loaned to Roma. The Europa League returned him to Leverkusen, like the castaways dragged by the tide to port. He was wearing a strange uniform. He converted to romanitá – the religion of modern pagan Romans – and, above all, with what seemed a marked sense of revenge. There was not a more active attacker in all of Rome during the straits of the first half. When Leverkusen’s deployments intimidated his teammates, the Iranian was encouraged by a determination that seemed alien to everything. His was the first shot against the local goal and his was the action that triggered the penalty.
Angeliño put in the kind of cross that usually ends up on the billboard. The Galician crossed the midfield line and projected a ball to the far post, where Lukaku was lurking. The ball was flying when Tah grabbed Azmoun by the shirt, who fell on the penalty spot. Makkelie did not hesitate. The judge awarded a penalty. After 40 minutes of harassment, the harasser found himself in a bind. Palacios made it 0-1. Leverkusen had taken the field with a two-goal advantage and the enthusiasm that has characterized them in recent months. As if inspired by an invincible faith in their possibilities, directed with the same imperative feeling by Xhaka, Alonso’s team played the accordion from area to area. In each transition he surprised his opponents with impetus and certainty in changing positions. Arrivals continued from the second line. Frimpong’s deep attempts multiplied. It was Palacios who scared the Romanistas with a shot against the post that almost ended up inside after bouncing off Svilar’s back. The shock activated the visiting goalkeeper for the better in the following minutes. He stopped a Frimpong cross shot, he stopped a shot from Adli, another from Hlozek, and Hofmann, and Hlozek again. Roma were reeling when the vengeful Azmoun caused the penalty to make it 0-1.
“Now we don’t want to stop!”
Leverkusen returned from the break as if Xabi Alonso had convinced his players to dissuade the revolt of Azmoun and his followers. In front of the Svilar masts the storm continued. But in the first stretch, after a corner, Hlozek touched the ball with his hand and the referee again awarded a penalty. Paredes deepened Roma’s lead (0-2) and Bayer found itself in one of those tight situations that at so many times during the season had driven it toward seemingly wild reactions that were actually part of a pattern. Against tired rivals, when the games open and the second unit comes in from the bench—Stanisic, Odilon, Wirtz, Schick—those who should despair behave as if they were playing a familiar score. It seems rehearsed. Doublings, massive arrivals, pauses in the decisive meters, and successful ambushes.
Mancini scored 1-2 in his own goal after a corner diabolically taken by Grimaldo; The 2-2 was scored by Stanisic, a born center back, officiating as Frimpong, a natural winger. It was them. It could have been anyone. Leverkusen’s emotional turbine produces scorers of all colors.
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