After a lightning strike by the unstoppable Moussa Diaby, Bayer Leverkusen stormed into the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
The Rhinelanders also won the round of 16 second leg at Ferencvaros Budapest 2-0 (1-0) on Thursday and can continue to dream of their second title in European football – in 1988 they had triumphed in the previous competition, the UEFA Cup.
Diaby (3rd) gave coach Xabi Alonso’s team the lead with the first attack, and the lightning-fast Frenchman not only scored for Ferencvaros, but also for the Hungarian crowd, who whipped up the team to catch up after the 2-0 loss in the first leg wanted, suddenly became calmer. Substitute Amine Adli (81st) followed suit in the closing stages.
“That was a mature international performance. We deserved to be through,” said Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky afterwards on “RTL +”. The captain also had the upcoming game against Bundesliga first Bayern Munich in mind. “Now there’s a real test on Sunday. After that, maybe we can talk about whether it was a can opener,” said the keeper and demanded: “Take the momentum.”
At the end of May, Leverkusen wants to return to Budapest, where the final will take place in the Ferencvaros stadium. But first the quarter-finals are coming up, and Bayer can look forward to an attractive opponent in the draw on Friday (1 p.m.) at the headquarters of the European Football Union. Manchester United, Europa League record winners FC Sevilla and Juventus Turin also made it through to the next round.
Diaby takes the wind out of Ferencvaros’ sails early on
His team was “ready,” Alonso said before the duel with the Hungarian record champions. Leverkusen came with the confidence of four wins from the past five competitive games – and got off to a dream start. Edmond Tapsoba served the starting Diaby with a long ball, the winger easily shook off his opponent Mats Knoester and converted.
Shortly afterwards Mitchel Bakker could have caused danger, but the cross from the full-back was far too harmless. This initially also applied to the Hungarians, until the ball suddenly fell at Amer Gojak’s feet. However, the 26-year-old failed to get in front of Leverkusen’s goal at Lukas Hradecky (22′). The Finnish national goalkeeper was lucky when Adama Traore shot the crossbar (38′).
Bayer leaves earlier decision
At the start of the second half, Alonso again demanded full concentration from his team – and again the Bundesliga club was wide awake from the start. Bakker (50th) missed the great opportunity to make it 2-0, his shot was blocked at the last moment. A goal by Jeremie Frimpong (52′) was ruled offside, Sardar Azmoun (56′) and Diaby (57′) with a shot at the post missed further chances.
Although it is already on Sunday (5:30 p.m. / DAZN) in the Bundesliga against record champions Bayern Munich, Leverkusen really wanted to score the second goal. Adli rewarded the efforts in the final phase.