AS Roma and Bayer Leverkusen will play in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League semifinal today, Thursday, May 9, in Leverkusen. 9:00 p.m. Central European Time is when the game begins. Recall that the German team won 2-0 at the conclusion of the first leg in Rome.
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer won their first championship in the Bundesliga’s 29th round. The group, led by Xabi Alonso, nevertheless, continues to work toward a number of goals. In every competition they enter, their primary goal is to take home trophies. They must beat Second Bundesliga representative Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final in order to advance to the Europa League final, where they must hold a two-goal advantage over Roma. In addition, they want to finish the season unbeaten. With 48 matches remaining, Bayer’s current unbeaten streak ties the European football record set by Benfica in 1965.Bayer will become the undisputed record holders if they manage to avoid losing to Roma. Xabi Alonso used a lineup that was not the best for the previous Bundesliga game, but it was enough to win 5-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt.
AS Roma
Daniele De Rossi replaced José Mourinho as Roma’s manager, and the team has since adopted an entirely new style of play. They are currently vying for a spot in the Champions League in addition to the Europa League. For this goal, finishing in the top five is sufficient because Italy’s clubs’ accomplishments have already secured an extra Champions League spot for the following year. But Roma drew with Juventus (1-1) and Napoli (2-2) in their last two Serie A games. Due to these outcomes, Roma is now in sixth place, while Atalanta is now in fifth. There’s been a feeling lately that the “wolves” led by De Rossi were running out of fuel.
Interesting match details and head-to-head records.
• Roma and Bayer also faced off in the Europa League semifinals the previous season. Roma triumphed 1-0 at home, while Leverkusen’s game ended in a 0-0 draw.
• When Bayer last competed in a European cup final, it was the 2002 Champions League final, which they lost to Real Madrid.