Bayer Leverkusen played their first round of 16 in the Europa League away to Azeri Qarabag on Thursday evening. The venue was the Tofiq Bähramov Stadium in Baku.
Before the match, Bayer Leverkusen were undefeated in 34 straight games – something no other German club had managed to do before. And the streak would continue, even though the team was in the dock for a long time.
In the 26th minute of the match, Qarabag scored 1-0 through Yassine Benzia. He received the ball from Juninho in the penalty area and shot – straight into the crossbar.
Despite a high ball possession from Leverkusen, it was the home team that lined up chances, and at the end of the second half the 2-0 goal also came. Juninho got a free position and lifted the extension. Leverkusen was thus in the dock for the second half.
But the Germans opened the second half strongly and chased a reduction. They had several chances, but the goals did not come at first.
But in the 70th minute of the match, the reduction came. Florian Wirtz was given a clearance after a failed home pass and was ice cold. He chipped in 2-1 behind Lunev.
Finally came the receipt. In the 92nd minute of the match, Patrik Schick headed in 2-2, to Leverkusen’s great joy.
This was also the last goal of the match. Bayer Leverkusen’s powerful streak thus continues. It was 35 games since the club suffered a loss.
– Qarabag played well in the first half, we had problems both offensively and defensively. We played better in the second half with more control and stability. The result is okay. We still have the second leg which is played at home, Xabi Alonso said after the match and continued:
– It may be true that the result is better for us than Qarabag. But I have a lot of respect for them, maybe they deserved a better result today. Everything is open now, we’ll see what happens next week.
Startelvor:
Qarabag: Lunev – Bayramov, Huseynoc, Mustafazada, Vesovic – Patrick, Jankovic – Andrade, Benzia, Zoubir, Juninho.
Bayer Leverkusen: Kovar, Grimaldo, Tapsoba, Tah, Kossounou – Adli, Andrich, Palacios, Tella – Iglesias, Hlozek.
