The German “Bayer” played a draw on the road with the English “West Ham” in the return match of the 1/4 finals of the Europa League, extending their phenomenal unbeaten streak, and made it to the semi-finals of the second most important club tournament in the Old World. Sports – about the next success of the Bundesliga winners and other matches of the Europa League and the Conference League.
UEFA Europa LeagueApril 18, 2024 • starts at 22:00Finished
West HamEngland1 : 1
BayerGermany
14' • Michail Antonio (Jerrod Bowen)
89' • Jeremy Frimpong (Josip Stanisic)
Still undefeated Bayer approached the second meeting with the British in a wonderful mood. The likes of which football players and fans have never had before. Last weekend, Xabi Alonso's team rolled past Werder Bremen (5:0) and interrupted Bayern's 11-year hegemony, becoming German champions for the first time in history.
The nickname “Neverkusen” is a thing of the past, the 2023/24 season has changed everything: Bayer has conquered the Bundesliga and now claims two more significant triumphs – the German Cup, where the champions will play in the final, and the League of Legends. Where Leverkusen are now two meetings away from the final.
After a home victory (2:0), the “pharmacists” flew to the return game in London with the task of not only maintaining their advantage, but also not losing. Bayer coped with the first task: Michael Antonio scored against them in the 13th minute, but the guests did not concede any more goals. Moreover, Leverkusen also coped with the second: in the very end, Jeremiah Frimpong, with the help of a rebound, snatched a draw and made the unique achievement of the Germans a reality. Today, Xabi Alonso's team set a record in the 21st century for the number of matches without defeat (44) among teams in the top 10 European leagues. Behind was the Italian Juventus, which lasted 43 matches without defeat.
The German fairy tale continues.
Who else made it to the semi-finals?
- “ATALANTA” (Italy)
Russian Alexey Miranchuk and his teammates, as it might seem, resolved all the issues last week. 3:0 at Anfield, no answer to Gianluca Scamacca's double and Mario Pasalic's goal! But you can write off any club, but not Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp, who has been spending the last few weeks in the Merseyside camp, and the “reds” gave us more than one mind-blowing comeback, so the three-goal lead in Italy might not have been enough for the “black and blues”. Ask Barcelona.
But no, that was enough. Mohamed Salah quickly converted the penalty, and then ruined the one-on-one situation. And Liverpool never recovered, did not crack the hosts’ defense – Atalanta survived. And for the first time in history, it reached the semi-finals of the European Cup.
- “MARSELLE” (France)< /li>
It is the “Provencals” who will become Atalanta’s next rivals. After an away defeat to Benfica with a score of 1:2 at the Vélodrome, Marseille were saved by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Faris Mumbanya (one assisted, the other scored).
With 120 minutes remaining, the penalty shootout began. In the football lottery, the hosts turned out to be better: they never missed, and goalkeeper Pau Lopez won duels against Angel Di Maria and Antonio Silva.
- ROMA (Italy)
The Romans confidently passed Milan without conceding a single goal in two matches. In the first away meeting, Gianluca Mancini scored, and in the second, the Wolves buried the intrigue in the very opening. In the 12th minute, the same Mancini opened the scoring, and Paulo Dybala doubled the lead. The Rossoneri were unable to win back three goals, even though from the 31st minute the hosts played with ten men (Zeki Celik was sent off for a flagrant foul).
Then the players of Daniele De Rossi had a battle with the main sensation season 2023/24. If anything, we are talking about Bayer.
When are the decisive LE matches? First The semi-final matches will be held on May 2, the return matches on the 9th.
The main match of the tournament will take place on May 22 in Dublin. The local arena already hosted the Europa League final in 2011, and then in the Portuguese confrontation, Porto defeated Braga 1:0 thanks to a goal from Colombian Radamel Falcao.
What is happening in the Conference League? Today in the third most important tournament in Europe The quarterfinal stage also ended. The English “Aston Villa”, thanks to the world champion in the Argentine national team Emiliano Martinez, passed the French “Lille” in a penalty shootout, “Olympiacos” (Greece) put the squeeze on “Fenerbahce” (Turkey) also in a penalty shootout, the Italian “Fiorentina” knocked out the Czech ” Victoria”, and Magomed Ozdoev's PAOK could not get the better of Brugge from Belgium.
The semi-final pairs are as follows:
- Aston Villa – Olympiacos;
- Fiorentina – Brugge.
Meetings are scheduled for May 2 and 9. The final will take place on May 29 in Athens.
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