The Werkself made a flying start at an atmospheric Stadio Olimpico. The first big chance fell to Robert Andrich with a shot from outside the box on 30 seconds but the Leverkusen enforcer missed the target as did Florian Wirtz five minutes later. The best chance for AS Roma came from a close-range header from Roger Ibanez but he was denied by a brilliant save from Lukas Hradecky (19’). Apart from these clear-cut chances, the first half was dominated by two teams focused on defence and the duels became increasingly intense. Homegrown AS Roma player Edoardo Bove broke the deadlock with a goal from a rebound to give the Italians a 1-0 lead (63’). AS Roma played with one eye on the clock. As a shot late-on from Jeremie Frimpong from a few yards out was cleared off the line by Bryan Cristante, the score remained 1-0. Here is the match report.
The summary from Hradecky after the match: “We were unable to show our strengths in one-on-ones today. Mourinho’s teams are always solid in defence and hard to play against. I hope we can score a couple of goals in Stuttgart on Sunday and hopefully win to give us confidence for Thursday. It’s not worth being sad. We were unlucky to concede the goal.” Frimpong was also disappointed but remains ambitious: “We knew it would be difficult today but it’s far from over. We’ll attack next week. We can do it! We showed that against Monaco. We defended well and we should have scored. That’s what it will be about next week. We have to score and we will do it.”
Xabi Alonso took a similar view and issued a call: “We need a very special night in Leverkusen – at our stadium – as you only get in European games. Roma have an advantage in the second leg but anything can happen in football. We’ll fight to the end.”
The Werkself received a hostile reception at the Stadio Olimpico. The Black and Red fans also created a brilliant atmosphere: 2,500 supporters from Leverkusen travelled to Rome and the whole block was dressed in red. The Leverkusen fans remained in the visitors section long after the final whistle and celebrated despite the defeat for their team. Alonso took time out after his interviews to go to the Leverkusen fans. Incredible! – Us for you! You for us!
Bad news: Both Odilon Kossounou (33') and Andrich (90+2’) had to be substituted due to injury in yesterday’s game. With Kossounou there is a suspected torn muscle in his thigh and with Andrich there is also no final diagnosis. Both are travelling back to Leverkusen today to undergo tests.
Good news: Edmond Tapsoba has been nominated for the vote for UEFA Europa League Player of the week. Congratulations.
A look at the statistics reveals that the twelve attempts on goal from the hosts with two more than for Leverkusen but the Black and Reds were just ahead in all other areas: The visitors had the upper hand with 62% possession and the Werkself also won 54% of duels. In terms of pass completion, the Alonso team had 85% and AS Roma 78%.
The headline in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reads: “Advantage Roma,” the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger summary: “Bayer 04 have to turn round a 1-0 scoreline” and the Express reports: “Despite defeat! Bayer still have everything to play for.” The Rheinische Post praised Hradecky’s performance: “Parried the header from short range by Roger Ibanez with an outstanding reflex save and thereby prevented his team going behind in the first half (19’). The Finland keeper was also in the right spot to keep out an effort from Tammy Abraham but was left with no chance as Edoardo Bove scored from the rebound (63’). Hradecky again impressively denied Andrea Belotti (67’).“ And the Bild Zeitung opted to look forward: “Round one in the semi-final went to Rome! But Bayer 04 still have the chance of going through to the final despite the 1-0 defeat in the first leg in Rome.”
The Werkself travel straight to Swabia from Italy on Saturday for the Bundesliga away game at VfB Stuttgart the next day. The match at the Mercedes-Benz Arena kicks off at 15.30 CEST. Four days later comes the semi-final second leg in the Europa League against AS Roma. That match at the BayArena kicks off at 21.00 CEST.
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