Leverkusen preserve unbeaten record and reach Europa final

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP):

Bayer Leverkusen had a double reason to celebrate in stoppage time yesterday.

Not only did they reach the Europa League final and keep their treble bid on course but substitute Josip Stanisic’s late goal preserved their remarkable unbeaten record as Leverkusen rescued a 2-2 draw against Roma.

Both had seemed at risk during the semi-final second leg after two Leandro Paredes penalties had made it 2-0 on the night and 2-2 on aggregate. But an own goal by Roma defender Gianluca Mancini eight minutes from time, and Stanisic’s equaliser, saw Leverkusen stretch their unbeaten streak to 49 matches.

Leverkusen advanced 4-2 on aggregate and will face another Italian team on May 22 in Dublin after Atalanta beat Marseille 3-0 to advance 4-1 on aggregate.

“It’s pure goose bumps!” Granit Xhaka told German television RTL. “You dream of an atmosphere like this. You dream of games like this. As a kid, you want to be in these games and then, when you equalise just before the end and get to the final, it’s incredible.”

The fact that their unbeaten record was preserved about 30 seconds away from coming to an end was another improbable finale in an impressive season for Xabi Alonso’s team, which has already won the Bundesliga title and also reached the German Cup final.

Leverkusen’s equaliser was their 17th goal of the season in the 90th minute or later across all competitions, and the third time they have come back from 2-0 down in the second half of Europa League knockout matches.

Roma, after losing the first leg last week, knew they faced a difficult task, and star forward Paulo Dybala was only fit for a place on the bench after sustaining an injury against Juventus over the weekend.

Leverkusen had several chances to all but kill off the tie, and went close in the 29th minute. A free kick was rolled across the outside of the area to Piero Hincapié, whose shot came off the left post, bounced off the back of Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar, and went across the face of goal before being cleared by Evan Ndicka.

Instead, it was Roma who took the lead two minutes from half-time with a Paredes penalty after Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah was adjudged to have pulled down visiting forward Sardar Azmoun – who is on loan from Leverkusen.

Svilar had pulled off an extraordinary double save moments earlier, and the Roma goalkeeper continued his heroics after the break.

Roma were awarded another penalty in the 66th minute as a corner glanced off Bryan Cristante’s head and Leverkusen winger Adam Hložek inadvertently brushed the ball with his fingertips.

Paredes kept his cool to drill the penalty into the bottom left corner and send the visiting fans into raptures.

Just as it appeared as if the match were heading for extra time, Leverkusen got the goal they needed to progress, as Alex Grimaldo’s corner from the right rebounded off Mancini at the far post and dropped over the line.

Leverkusen had made a habit of preserving its unbeaten record with stoppage time goals recently but left it even later than usual before Stanisic – who came on in the 90th minute – cut inside and fired into the bottom far corner in the seventh minute of added on time.