On the morning of April 21 (Hanoi time), Leverkusen defeated Union SG 4-1, thereby having the first time in history to participate in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
In the first leg, Leverkusen unexpectedly let Royale Union SG hold a draw at home with a score of 1-1. However, when playing the second leg away, the Bundesliga representative engulfed the Belgian opponent with 4 goals, divided equally into two halves.
In the second minute, Leverkusen made good use of Union SG’s awkwardness to take the lead. Moussa Diaby escapes, dribbles past the keeper and shoots into an empty net.
The home team pushed up the formation but could not penetrate the visitors’ defense, only to pay the price with a second goal in the 38th minute. Starting from a quick counter-attack, Michel Bakker buffered the Belgian representative from the road. Adam Hlozek’s right wing assist.
After 2 goals conceded, Union SG’s defense played awkwardly and conceded a third goal because of the goalkeeper’s deplorable mistake. After a successful attempt by his teammates, Jeremie Frimpong hit an empty net, making it 3-0 in the 61st minute.
After 65 minutes, Casper Terho rekindled hopes for Union SG with a goal to shorten the score in the 61st minute. However, that was also what the home team of Lotto Park could do. 14 minutes later, Hlozek decided the match with a goal to make it 4-1 for Leverkusen.
The Bundesliga representative won the first Europa League semi-final ticket in the club’s history. In the 1994/95 season, the owner club of the Airport Arena also reached the semi-finals of the European second division cup tournament, but at that time, the tournament was called the UEFA Cup.
Take Leverkusen from 16th to 6th in the Bundesliga, reach the semi-finals of the Europa League and raise the unbeaten streak to 12 matches. Xabi Alonso is doing a great job on his first try as a coach. In the semi-finals, coach Alonso will face AS Roma of his former teacher Jose Mourinho.