Roma have a mountain to climb to reach their second consecutive Europa League Final after Champions of Germany Bayer Leverkusen won 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.
The Giallorossi had Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling back from injury, but Zeki Celik sat out a ban with Dean Huijsen and Rasmus Kristensen ineligible. Bayer had already won the Bundesliga title and were unbeaten all season with 38 victories and eight draws, but out for revenge after losing last season’s semi-final to Jose Mourinho’s side. They surprised by dropping both Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick for a very defensive formation.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.
Lukaku thumped the crossbar on 21 minutes with a header after Leandro Paredes acrobatically flicked a Paulo Dybala corner back into the centre.
Moments later, Jeremie Frimpong sprinted away on the Florian Wirtz through ball and only hit the side-netting as Mile Svilar came rushing out.
It was the Germans who took the lead thanks to a literal gift from Rick Karsdorp, who stumbled during the weakest of back-passes, allowing Alex Grimaldo to roll across for the Wirtz tap-in.
Roma with a horrible error! 😬
Florian Wirtz opens the scoring ⚽️#UEL
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/TNGXDrg3gF
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 2, 2024
Roma were shaken, Svilar fumbling a Wirtz strike and Frimpong drilling wide of the near post from six yards. Wirtz also fired wide from distance and Svilar struggled to parry a long-range Robert Andrich rocket.
Lorenzo Pellegrini saw his right-foot curler skim the far post from outside the box, but once again Roma risked on the counter on the stroke of half-time, a series of attempts charged down.
Bryan Cristante flicked on a corner just beyond Chris Smalling for what would’ve been a tap-in at the far post, but it was Leverkusen who doubled their lead.
Andrich had already threatened from distance before and this time he unleashed a screamer into the far top corner from the edge of the area. A scuffle broke out with numerous players involved, resulting in yellow cards for Leonardo Spinazzola and Granit Xhaka.
WHAT A HIT THAT IS! 💥
Robert Andrich roots the goalkeeper from range ✨
All kicking off after the goal 😬#UEL pic.twitter.com/2HQRuFlJ4K
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 2, 2024
Sardar Azmoun tried to get a goal back late on from Pellegrini’s assist, but Pierre Hincapie’ did just enough to put him off.
Tammy Abraham incredibly failed to score deep into stoppages when the goalkeeper fumbled a cross and he somehow nodded over an open goal from a yard.
Roma 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen
Wirtz 28 (B), Andrich 73 (B)
Player statistic
| 16' |  |
Jonathan Tah | ||
| 28' |  |
Florian Wirtz (Assist: Alejandro Grimaldo) | ||
| Lorenzo Pellegrini | |
30' |
| 73' | |
Robert Andrich (Assist: Josip Stanisic) | ||
| Leonardo Spinazzola | |
75' | ||
| 75' | |
Granit Xhaka | ||
| 76' | |
Robert Andrich | ||
| Bryan Cristante | |
78' |
Match statistic
Every romanista understands & is aware of this, it’s brutal being romanista. One time, Roma may win multiple times only to crumble in one match & then stay inconsistent as usual. No wonder, during Roma long history, we’ve only won few trophies. Very few trophies.
De Rossi caught out again in a big game, Roma played like they were frightened of opposition, scared to go forward, no speed on the ball. Tactics come from the coach and Roma were found wanting. Maybe the hierarchy were too quick to hand De Rossi full contract, lost to Inter at home, lost to Bologna at home, now Leverkusen at home, all big games all big losses.
Came up against a woeful milan, helped by Turpin missing a blatant offside in the first leg, and they thought they were going to achieve something 😂 all we need now is for Atalanta to take 5th spot.