Bayer Leverkusen, the recent Bundesliga champions, advanced to the Europa League semifinals but nearly lost their undefeated season on Thursday as they rallied late to tie 1-1 away at West Ham United for a 3-1 aggregate triumph.
Michail Antonio’s header gave the home team the lead early on, and Xavi Alonso’s team performed considerably below their usual high standards in the first half as the overpowering hosts created several more opportunities.
Leverkusen, who won their first German championship over the weekend, showed tremendous improvement after the break but missed a number of chances until the 89th minute, when substitute Jeremie Frimpong’s effort deflected past Lukasz Fabianski.
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The travelling Leverkusen supporters let out a huge cheer when the final whistle blew, and they are now looking forward to playing AS Roma in the semi-finals—a team they lost to at that stage of the previous season.
Leverkusen is still on track to win a treble this season after going undefeated in 44 games across all competitions.
Still, West Ham will be disappointed not to have been able to exploit the opportunities they created following Antonio’s goal as they came perilously close to giving up their stellar record.
As West Ham took them out of their routine, Leverkusen appeared to be suffering from a hangover from winning the title.
They were careless when in possession, and after 13 minutes, they paid a price as Antonio got there just in time to see Matej Kovar, the goalkeeper, glance Antonio’s header into the net after Jarrod Bowen fizzed a wonderful delivery into the area.
As the West Ham supporters turned up the volume and Mohammed Kudus’ deflected shot nearly caught Kovar off guard, it seemed like another fantastic London night was in store.
Following that, the keeper produced an incredible reaction stop to deny Bowen’s volley, which had appeared to be a certain goal, sending West Ham manager David Moyes to the ground in shock.
As West Ham made a joke of Leverkusen’s form, Antonio missed another header.
Whatever Alonso said at halftime obviously had an effect because the Germans’ deft passing style helped them grind out the opposition.