West Ham United – Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:1 (1:0)
In the second leg against the English team West Ham United, Bayer Leverkusen reached the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 1-1 (0-1). Even the narrow defeat, which it looked like for a long time, would have been enough to advance due to the 2-0 win in the first leg – but thanks to a goal shortly before the end, Leverkusen remain unbeaten this season.
In the game, which was heated for large parts, West Ham made the more confident impression. Leverkusen, on the other hand, often played too carelessly and allowed themselves to be put under pressure. Michail Antonio made it 1-0 for the English early on (13th). As the first half progressed, the flow of the game was increasingly interrupted by many interruptions, often due to minor fouls. Things were also rough off the pitch at times: in a scuffle between both team benches, West Ham’s assistant coach Billy McKinlay and Leverkusen’s assistant coach Sebastián Parrilla were each shown a red card (30′).
In the second half, Bayer stabilized somewhat, became more confident and increasingly won more duels. With three yellow cards per team in the last 20 minutes, it remained a competitive game until the end. For a long time it looked like Leverkusen’s first defeat of the season – but then Jeremie Frimpong (89th) made it clear that they would advance before the end of regular time.
Atalanta Bergamo – Liverpool FC 0:1 (0:1)
Despite a 1-0 win (1-0) against Atalanta Bergamo, Liverpool FC and head coach Jürgen Klopp were eliminated from the Europa League. After the surprising 0:3 (0:1) defeat in the first leg, the English needed a much better win.
Mohamed Salah (7th) had given Liverpool the lead early on with a hand penalty – there was certainly hope for a high-scoring game. And Liverpool actually had a playful advantage in the period that followed; However, they were unable to make sufficient use of the good scoring opportunities.
Klopp, who is extremely popular in Liverpool, recently announced his departure from the club and will no longer be able to take a Europa League title with him. But in the English Premier League, Liverpool FC in third place theoretically still has a chance of winning the title.
AS Roma – AC Milan 2:1 (2:0)
In the quarter-final duel between the Italian teams AS Roma and AC Milan, AS Roma prevailed 2-1 (2-0). The capital city team was outnumbered for a long time, but that didn’t endanger the victory.
Gianluca Mancini (12th) gave Rome an early lead, Paulo Dybala (22nd) followed up in the first half. Even given the 1-0 win in the first leg, the evening seemed to be an easy one. But then Mehmet Zeki Çelik saw red in the 31st minute – Rome had to continue playing outnumbered for around an hour. But AC Milan were unable to convert their excess weight into goals: it was only shortly before the end that Matteo Gabbia (85th) scored the goal, which was ultimately useless.
Olympique Marseille – Benfica Lisbon 5:2 (0:0, 1:0)
Olympique Marseille beat Benfica Lisbon 5-2 on penalties. After 90 and 120 minutes the score was 1-0 (0-0, 0-0). Olympique turned the 1-2 defeat in the first leg into a success.
It didn’t initially look like that in the first half. The French were the more alert team from the start and created good chances. Benfica, on the other hand, had to limit themselves to defense and occasional counterattacks. However, these did not lead to any serious scoring opportunities. Marseille also had more of the game in the second half and applied pressure – for a long time without any measurable success. It wasn’t until the 79th minute that Olympique were rewarded: Substitute Faris Moumbagna powerfully converted a cross from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with his head.
Benfica now became more active in view of the threatened progression, but were unable to make a decision. After 90 regular minutes, the game went into extra time. During this one, Benfica could not take advantage of the fact that almost all of Marseille’s players were struggling with muscular and endurance problems. In the penalty shootout that followed, Benfica missed two attempts, but Marseille converted all their shots to take the win.
In the second leg against the English team West Ham United, Bayer Leverkusen reached the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 1-1 (0-1). Even the narrow defeat, which it looked like for a long time, would have been enough to advance due to the 2-0 win in the first leg – but thanks to a goal shortly before the end, Leverkusen remain unbeaten this season.
In the game, which was heated for large parts, West Ham made the more confident impression. Leverkusen, on the other hand, often played too carelessly and allowed themselves to be put under pressure. Michail Antonio made it 1-0 for the English early on (13th). As the first half progressed, the flow of the game was increasingly interrupted by many interruptions, often due to minor fouls. Things were also rough off the pitch at times: in a scuffle between both team benches, West Ham’s assistant coach Billy McKinlay and Leverkusen’s assistant coach Sebastián Parrilla were each shown a red card (30′).