AS Roma defeated Bayer Leverkusen in the final match of the Europa League with 1–0 on aggregate.
Lukas Hradecky was completely unemployed on Thursday, but a clean sheet in his own end was not enough for Bayer Leverkusen. PDO
No one can deny José Mourinho’s tactical genius.
On Thursday, The Special One brought a slim 1–0 lead to AS Roma’s BayArena horn pot. His former student, Xabi AlonsoBayer Leverkusen.
However, Alonso took his coaching idea from another of his role models, because the home team greedily went for the equalizer.
The deciding leg of the Europa League semi-final ended up being an extremely one-sided show as Mourinho’s Roma just wanted to secure their advantage. Die Werkself forced the focus of the game Rui Patricio to the guarded Giallorossi goal.
The story continues after the picture
José Mourinho tactics AS Roma to the final. PDO
The Portuguese could breathe a sigh of relief in the 12th minute, when Florian Wirtz messenger Moussa Diaby full speed ahead. The Les Bleus star pedaled away From Roger Ibañez and shot the ball hard into the top bar of the Roma goal.
In addition to the Frenchman, Leverkusen’s Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun kept Rui Patricio constantly busy.
At the opposite end, the Leverkusen skipper Lukas Hradecky got off easy. The guests did not force the Huuhkajat-veskari to fight practically at all.
Sixth Euro title?
In Mourinho’s mind was only the next place.
He replaced the orthodox striker right at the beginning of the second period by Andrea Belotti much more defensively With Gini Wijnaldum.
The purpose was just cynically to keep Leverkusen at zero.
In the end, however, the “Romanists” get to thank the team’s Portuguese striker Rui Patricio, who stretched out time after time in front of Leverkusen’s attempts. Recorded in the 67th minute by Kerem Demirbay the defense of the bottom corner home can even be considered the solution of the entire pair of matches.
Soon after, Roma packed more defensive strength on the field, when the former Manchester United top scorer Chris Smalling jumped on the grass.
Mourinho is aiming for a historic sixth individual European Cup, with which he would move alone to the top of the statistics. So far, the Portuguese’s balance (wins of two Champions Leagues, a UEFA Cup, a Europa League and a Conference League) is only enough for a shared pole position together by Giovanni Trappatton with.
However, Il Trap, who achieved European success at Juventus and Inter at the helm, leaves Mourinho in the shadow in one respect: he has two European Cups and one Cup Winners’ Cup also as a player for AC Milan.
Bus to the goal
For Hradecky, losing in the semifinals is of course difficult to accept. Taking into account both matches, Leverkusen was more active, more dangerous and searched for an equalizing goal until the final moments of the key semi-final.
However, it didn’t happen.
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Moussa Diaby’s shot hit the crossbar of the Roma goal. PDO
Turku’s veskar’s chance to become only the fifth Finnish player to appear on the side of the field in the Euro finals turned into disappointment when the Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić blew the whistle to end the game.
Hradecky didn’t have to touch the ball much in the second period. Unfortunately, in the opening part, he couldn’t be pushed by Tammy Abraham strong pull away from the scoring sector.
Edoardo Bove riveted the spindles in and eventually AS Roma to the Budapest final.
In Leverkusen, Mourinho parked the bus in front of his own goal, and thus secured the next place with a 1–0 aggregate goal. In the final match, they will meet the six-time winner of the Europa League, Sevilla, who defeated Juventus 3-2 on aggregate after dramatic stages.
The only consolation for the fans of the home team was that Alonso, the top coach coveted by the big clubs, committed to continue with the pharmaceutical factory team at least next season.