O This Thursday, Bayer Leverkusen took a giant step towards the Europa League final, after visiting and defeating AS Roma (2-0), in the 1st leg of the semi-finals. Xabi Alonso’s team thus continues to add even more color to a dream season, at a time when winning the German championship has already become a certainty.
The first goal of the match at the Olímpico in Rome came before half an hour, when Alejandro Grimaldo, ex-Benfica, appeared in the face of Svilar, a former colleague at Luz, to assist Florian Wirtz (28′) for the first goal of the night.
The second goal of the night only appeared in the second half, in the 73rd minute, when Robert Andrich decided to try his luck from long distance and scored a beautiful goal that doubled the German advantage on Italian soil.
Roma moved up the ranks after this second goal, they managed to get closer to scoring, but the result would end up not changing any further and Bayer left the Italian capital with a two-goal advantage going into the 2nd leg game, which takes place precisely in a week, at the BayArena, in Germany.
The Europa League final, it should be noted, is scheduled for May 22nd in Dublin, Ireland, at the Aviva Stadium
Portuguese duo on the bench
Renato Sanches and Rui Patrício were unused substitutes for De Rossi at AS Roma, with no Portuguese presence on the pitch.
Starting teams
ELEVEN FROM AS ROME: Svilar; Karsdorp, Mancini, Smalling, Spinazzola; Paredes, Cristante, Pellegrini; El Shaarawy, Dybala and Lukaku.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN’S ELEVEN: Kovar; Tapsoba, Tah, Stanisic; Frimpong, Andrich, Xhaka, Hincapie; Grimaldo, Wirtz and Adli.
Preview
AS Roma and Bayer Leverkusen face off this Thursday night in the 1st leg of the Europa League semi-finals. The current fifth-placed team in Italian football hosts the already (unprecedented) German champion and the excitement promises to take over the Olímpico.
With the Portuguese Renato Sanches and Rui Patrício on the bench for AS Roma, the main focus is on the starting lineup of ex-Benfica players Svilar and Cristante, in the Italian team, as well as the Spaniard Alejandro Grimaldo, also ex-Benfica, on the side of Bayer Leverkusen.
Follow, live, all the incidents of this match from 8pm on Sport at the Minute.
Read Also: Tiago Pinto: Félix will be “number one” and Renato Sanches is “suspicious”
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