Soccer

Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta to meet in Europa League final in Dublin

German side make it 49 games unbeaten after stunning comeback against Roma in second leg

Bayer Leverkusen players celebrates after Roma's Gianluca Mancini scored an own goal during the Europa League semi-final, second leg at the BayArena in Leverkusen. Photograph: Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Bayer Leverkusen players celebrates after Roma's Gianluca Mancini scored an own goal during the Europa League semi-final, second leg at the BayArena in Leverkusen. Photograph: Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Thu May 09 2024 - 22:20
Europa League semi-finals
Bayer Leverkusen 2 Roma 2 (Leverkusen win 4-2 on agg)

Bayer Leverkusen staged a late comeback to move into the Europa League final with a 2-2 draw at home against Roma on Thursday to win 4-2 on aggregate as they set the longest unbeaten run in all competitions including European matches.

Leverkusen, who will meet Atalanta in the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Wednesday, May 22nd, played their 49th match without defeat to surpass Benfica’s record set from 1963–65 but they had to battle for the second leg draw.

Roma took the lead with a penalty from Leandro Paredes just before half-time after Jonathan Tah fouled Sardar Azmoun. Paredes scored with another spot kick in the 66th minute after Adam Hlozek’s handball.

With eight minutes remaining, a Leverkusen corner confused the visiting defence, leading to Gianluca Mancini inadvertently deflecting the ball into his own net at the far post.

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Joseph Stanisic then secured Leverkusen’s place in the record books deep into stoppage time with the equaliser to continue the unbeaten run for Xabi Alonso’s side.

Atalanta 3 Marseille 0 (Atalanta win 4-1 on agg]

Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman, Matteo Ruggeri and El Bilal Toure scored to send the Italians into their first Europa League final with a 3-0 win over Marseille for a 4-1 aggregate victory on Thursday.

Lookman put Atalanta ahead in the second leg on the half-hour with a long-range strike past Pao Lopez before setting up Ruggeri to double the lead seven minutes after the break. Substitute Toure put the nail in Marseille’s coffin with a goal in the 94th minute.

Atalanta, who face Juventus in the Italian Cup final mext Wednesday, are fifth in Serie A and have their sights set on a Champions League qualifying spot.

Europa Conference League semi-final
Olympiakos 2 Aston Vila 0 (Olympiakos win 6-2 on agg)

Olympiakos striker Ayoub El Kaabi netted twice as the Greek side cruised into a Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina thanks to a 2-0 home win over Aston Villa on Thursday that gave them a 6-2 victory on aggregate.

Villa started well but El Kaabi, who got a hat-trick in the first leg, broke the deadlock in the 10th minute as Daniel Podence slid the ball down the line for full back Quini who picked out the Moroccan at the far post for a simple finish.

The visitors dominated possession in the first half, with winger Leon Bailey coming closest to an equaliser with a blistering shot in first-half stoppage time that Konstantinos Tzolakis parried away for a corner.

The second half offered more of the same but instead it was El Kaabi who netted again to send Olympiakos into a European final for the first time in their 99-year history, with the game taking place on May 29th at the home of Greek rivals AEK Athens.