The world record is broken after 59 years! An Eusebio-inspired Benfica went on a 48-game unbeaten streak between 1963 and 1965. The record has stood since, but Leverkusen broke that record tonight in another injury-time thriller: Bayer – Roma 2-2. Everything looked easy for the Germans as they played the second leg in front of their own crowd, backed up by a 2-0 win in Rome but after 66 minutes it was a shocking 2-0 for the guests. The goals came from two penalties and Bayer’s dominance on the pitch remained fruitless mainly due to Roma’s fantastic keeper Mile Svilar. But just as Manuel Neuer had a perfect game against Real and then committed one but fatal mistake, which ended in a total turnaround, Svilar had a clumsy intervention in the 82nd minute that ended with Mancini’s own goal. And that was it, Leverkusen ‘smelled the blood’ and even thou they were through to the final with that score, started to attack in an attempt to remain undefeated. And they managed it for the 12th time this season! 49 GAMESXabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen have the longest unbeaten streak in European football history 👏 pic.twitter.com/0W68BARtd8— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 9, 2024 Unlike some other games, when Patrik Schick was the one, it was Bayern’s loanee Josip Stanišić with a stunner in the 97th minute which brough joy to the home team. What’s even better, they are through to the Europa League final, their first of a kind since 2002 and since they are already Bundesliga champions and still have a German Cup final to play, they could win a triplet, also for the first time in their history! What is Real Madrid in the Champions League? That is Bayer this season in the Europa League. 12 times Xabi Alonso’s men scored after the 90th minute in order to win or stay undefeated: Palacios scored in the 90th+4 minute against Bayern Munich (2-2).Bonifáce scored in the 90th+4 minute against Karabag (2-2).Palacios scored in the 90th+4 minute against Augsburg (1-0).Hincapié scored in the 90th+1 minute against Leipzig (3-2).Tah scored in the 90th+1 minute against Stuttgart (3-2).Schick scored in the 90th+2 minute against Karabag (2-2).Schick scored in the 90th+3 and 90th+7 minutes against Karabag (3-2).Schick scored in the 90th+1 minute against Hoffenheim (2-1).Stanisic scored in the 90th+7 minute against Borussia Dortmund (1-1).Frimpong scored in the 90th minute against West Ham (1-1).Andrih scored in the 90th+6 minute against Stuttgart (2-2).Stanišić scored in the 90th+7 minute against Roma (2-2).Apart from a good header in the 18th minute by Pellegrini, Roma did nothing but defend until the 43rd minute. Their keeper, Rade Svilar, made a total of six saves in the first 45 minutes, and most of them were fantastic ones. Palacios had to be angry with himself as he was denied by Svilar no less than three times. The guests had one of their long-ball attacks at the end of the half and Tah made a clumsy challenge on Azmun, which was enough for a penalty area. Paredes continued his perfect streak of eight converted penalties and it was 1-0 for Roma. Giallorossi regrouped after the break and started the second half much better. That resulted in more ball in Leverkusen’s penalty area, and one of those balls was stopped by Hložek, who used his hands, and it was another penalty, and again, it was Paredes (9-9) for the shocking 2-0 at Bay Arena, with a half an hour to go. But then Bayer’s machine started and again ran over it’s opponent on their way to another unbeaten game. CHIUDETE LE VALIGIE, ANDIAMO A DUBLINOOOOO ✈️PACK YOUR BAGS, WE’RE GOING TO DUBLIN ✈️#AtalantaOM #UEL #GoAtalantaGo ⚫️🔵 pic.twitter.com/f2yv9PydVo— Atalanta B.C. (@Atalanta_BC) May 9, 2024 “In this squad, there are a lot of players who have played in big matches; internationals who know what this match means” said Marseille interim boss Jean-Louis Gasset before the game with Atalanta, but even thou he was totally right, those players he referred to, just didn’t ‘show up’ in this game. Zero shots on target in the first half and 2-0 down after 52 minutes says it all. Ademola Lookman scored the first one after only half an hour, while Ruggeri finished them off at the start of the second half. The French team made no clear chances and are now left with a tough task in League 1. They have three games left and five points behind Lens, who occupies the last remaining European spot (the Conference League). Atalanta made their club’s history tonight as the small club from Bergamo defeated great French club Marseille 3-0 and went into the final of the Europa League UEFA EUROPA LEAGUESemifinals – second legThursdayAtalanta – Olympique Marseille 3-0 (1-0) /first leg 1-1//Lookman 30, Ruggeri 52, Toure 90+4/Leverkusen – Roma 2-2 (0-1) /first leg 2-0//Paredes (p) 43, 66 – Mancini (og) 82, Stanisic 90+7/—————————————————————————-UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUESemifinals – second legWednesdayClub Brugge – Fiorentina 1-1 (1-0) /first leg 2-3//Vanaken 20 – Beltran 85(P)/ThursdayOlympiakos – Aston Villa 2-0 (1-0) /first leg 2-4//El Kaabi 10, 78/
