Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run continued after a dramatic late equaliser from Josip Stanisic earned Xabi Alonso’s side a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final clash against Roma
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen have broken a historic record after extending their unbeaten run to 49 games thanks to a dramatic 97th minute equaliser against Roma.
Leverkusen’s 2-2 draw against the Serie A side means they will now face Atalanta in the Europa League final in Dublin later this month, having won the semi-final clash 4-2 on aggregate after a 2-0 victory in the first leg.
However, two converted penalties from Leandro Paredes had Leverkusen staring on the verge of their first defeat before Alonso’s men completed another remarkable comeback. Gianluca Mancini scored an own goal in the 82nd minute to give them hope and Josip Stanisic sparked wild celebrations at the BayArena are finding the back of the net in the 97th minute.
The goal was Leverkusen’s 17th goal in added time this season and means the club now holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in European football (all competitions). The previous record was held for 59 years by Benfica, who went 48 games unbeaten between 1963 and 1965.
Leverkusen have already won the Bundesliga for the first time in their history and are now hoping to complete a historic treble by winning the Europa League and the German Cup as well.
“You see the desire from the team, we didn’t want to slow down,” Granit Xhaka told TNT Sports after the aggregate win over Roma. “We wanted to score the next goal to keep going unbeaten, 49 times now.
“We are proud of it. We have a lot of respect for Atalanta and first of all, we are happy to be in the final. We have time now to prepare and analyse, but we have some games to go still.”
Defender Jeremie Frimpong added: “We had to dig so deep. It was such a difficult match, a semi-final against a top team and we just did everything great. We were the better team and the better team won.
“Nothing was going in, we kept missing but this season we’ve been phenomenal and you can’t count us out… not even for a second. We deserved this win. No one gives up. Everyone knows that if we go down, we will get a goal.”
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