EUROPA LEAGUE: Leverkusen’s stellar season continues as they eliminate West Ham from Europa League
April 19, 2024
New Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen advanced to the semi-finals of the Europa Cup on Thursday night following a 1-1 draw against West Ham that gave them a 3-1 aggregate win.
It looked like the Hammers might cause a come-from-behind upset when Michail Antonio scored in the 13th minute, but they were unable to find a way through the German sides’ defence again. Jeremie Frimpong equalised in the 89th minute to secure the win which sees Xabi Alonso’s side advance to the semi-final where they will face AS Roma.
Speaking after the game Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka told TNT Sports: “I think we felt it in the first half, for me, it was typical English crowd. They were pushing West Ham unbelievably. We were lucky in the first half if we’re honest.
“It was a different phase in the second half, we controlled the game in the second half. We are happy we got through.
“It was a completely different game in the first half then the second half. We showed a difference. We competed much more. If you see over 180 minutes, the better team go through.
“It’s unbelievable, being back after seven years away from Germany. To win the first league trophy in the history, but this team wants more.
“The mentality and the belief. We believe until the end. This team has a different character and energy. We are showing this every three days.”
West Ham’s exit from Europe followed hot on the heels of the elimination Liverpool and Manchester City on Wednesday and of Liverpool on Thursday. It translated to a bleak set of results for Premier League sides – this is just the third time in the 21st century that England has no teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League or Europa League. It is also the fourth time in the past 20 seasons that the Premier League won’t have a finalist in either competition.
On facing Roma in the semi-finals Xhaka said: “It’s a Champions League team in my opinion. We will try to give our fans a final in Dublin.”
Meanwhile the Swiss internationals comments were echoed by his manager who said: “We were ready that they were going to push really hard. We were not comfortable in our structure; we were not able to find a flow.
“We had some soft loose balls, and the momentum was with West Ham. To be honest, they were the best team at half-time, we were not at our best. Happily, we changed things at half-time.
“I am happy to go through. In the Europa League you always have tough moments.
“West Ham have good players and energy. Credit to them they played really hard, totally different to what they did in Leverkusen. You need to deal with difficult moments, it’s not always possible to control the whole 90 minutes. It was key we didn’t concede that second or third goal.
“We know the physicality of West Ham. They also have amazing players like Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta.
“The records are a consequence of a good job. It’s really nice and we are happy to do that.”
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EUROPA LEAGUE: Leverkusen’s stellar season continues as they eliminate West Ham from Europa League
New Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen advanced to the semi-finals of the Europa Cup on Thursday night following a 1-1 draw against West Ham that gave them a 3-1 aggregate win.
It looked like the Hammers might cause a come-from-behind upset when Michail Antonio scored in the 13th minute, but they were unable to find a way through the German sides’ defence again. Jeremie Frimpong equalised in the 89th minute to secure the win which sees Xabi Alonso’s side advance to the semi-final where they will face AS Roma.
Speaking after the game Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka told TNT Sports: “I think we felt it in the first half, for me, it was typical English crowd. They were pushing West Ham unbelievably. We were lucky in the first half if we’re honest.
“It was a different phase in the second half, we controlled the game in the second half. We are happy we got through.
“It was a completely different game in the first half then the second half. We showed a difference. We competed much more. If you see over 180 minutes, the better team go through.
“It’s unbelievable, being back after seven years away from Germany. To win the first league trophy in the history, but this team wants more.
“The mentality and the belief. We believe until the end. This team has a different character and energy. We are showing this every three days.”
West Ham’s exit from Europe followed hot on the heels of the elimination Liverpool and Manchester City on Wednesday and of Liverpool on Thursday. It translated to a bleak set of results for Premier League sides – this is just the third time in the 21st century that England has no teams in the semi-finals of the Champions League or Europa League. It is also the fourth time in the past 20 seasons that the Premier League won’t have a finalist in either competition.
On facing Roma in the semi-finals Xhaka said: “It’s a Champions League team in my opinion. We will try to give our fans a final in Dublin.”
Meanwhile the Swiss internationals comments were echoed by his manager who said: “We were ready that they were going to push really hard. We were not comfortable in our structure; we were not able to find a flow.
“We had some soft loose balls, and the momentum was with West Ham. To be honest, they were the best team at half-time, we were not at our best. Happily, we changed things at half-time.
“I am happy to go through. In the Europa League you always have tough moments.
“West Ham have good players and energy. Credit to them they played really hard, totally different to what they did in Leverkusen. You need to deal with difficult moments, it’s not always possible to control the whole 90 minutes. It was key we didn’t concede that second or third goal.
“We know the physicality of West Ham. They also have amazing players like Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta.
“The records are a consequence of a good job. It’s really nice and we are happy to do that.”