Photo Credit: Getty Images
Bayer Leverkusen are extending their unbeaten record in Europe as they manage to extend their unbeaten run to 47 games by beating Roma 0-2. They travelled to Stadio Olimpico in a bid to gain the advantage ver Roma before coming back to Germany in the next week. Both teams seemed as capable as the other in ability of walking out with a win.
Amine Adli had a promising run in the early moments of the game but it all came for naught. Romelu Lukaku had the chance to put La Lupa ahead but he was denied by the woodwork as his header was millimeters off the target. Leandro Paredes was the architect of the cross into the six-yard box. The Belgian came to rue his missed chance less than ten minutes later.
Rick Karsdorp grossly managed to under-hit his pass in the defensive line of the left flank and Alex Grimaldo had all the right and picked out Florian Wirtz who only needed to roll the ball past Mile Svilar for the 18th goal of the campaign for the German. Instead of typically employing the defensive mentality of an away side clinging to a slim lead, Leverkusen were quite the opposite. The goals could have easily been triple of what they were at the break. Jeremie Frimpong notably squared the ball to Wirtz who fired it towards goal but too close to the goalkeeper.
Afterwards Frimpong missed painfuly at the far post. After the first half, both sides were presented the opportunity to change the equation. Firstly Pedro Hicaipie missed glaringly following a corner. Paulo Dybala then brought about a powerful corner which could only be headed across the face of the goal by Bryan Christante. Roma managed to keep their shape but indicated an air of vulnerability in their flanks.
Andrich had been a quiet player all evening but soon everything revolved minutes later when he netter a goal which could easily be one of Leverkusens’s killer goals. After a succession of passed, Xhaka found Frimpong who passed back to Andrich due to the crowd in the area.
Andrich who was now outside the area, saw Slivar off his line and let the ball fly. It dipped majestically into the far corner bringing the score to 2-0. Commotion broke out immediately after the goal due to a poor challenge on Josip Stanisic in the build up. Spinazzola and Xhaka both came out of it with bookings. Xabi Alonso managed to cruise to another victory in a truly magical season.
