In a significant stadium in a major city abroad, Bayer Leverkusen’s remarkable unbeaten run in Europe remained unbroken. The newly crowned Bundesliga champion stunned the Stadio Olimpico with a 2-0 victory against Roma in the first leg of the Europa League semifinals on Thursday, extending their unbeaten streak to 47 matches across all competitions.
This streak surpasses any other club from Europe’s top five leagues — in Germany, England, Italy, Spain, and France. “We focus on each game and don’t think about staying unbeaten,” said Leverkusen midfielder Amine Adli. “We’re not aiming to make history; we just want to enjoy playing together.”
The win also served as a form of payback for Leverkusen, as Roma had defeated them at the same stage last season, marking their last European loss.
“We understand the challenge of playing here,” Adli added. “We approached the game with seriousness.” Leverkusen’s previous defeat across all competitions occurred almost a year ago when they lost 3-0 to Bochum in the final round of last season’s Bundesliga on May 27, 2023.
In the other semifinal, Atalanta tied 1-1 with Marseille. The second leg will happen next Thursday, and the final is set for Dublin on May 22.
Leverkusen has only won one European trophy: the 1988 UEFA Cup, which was the precursor to the Europa League. They reached another European final in the 2002 Champions League but lost to Real Madrid.
Roma is trying to reach its third consecutive European final after winning the Europa Conference League in 2022 and losing last year’s Europa League final to Sevilla in a penalty shootout.
Daniele De Rossi took over as Roma’s coach in January after Jose Mourinho. Roma hadn’t lost a European knockout stage game at home in seven years — since a 1-0 defeat by Villarreal in the 2017 Europa League.
Before the match, Roma fans displayed a large sign spelling out “AVANZIAMO” (“Let’s advance”) across one end of the stadium. But now, Roma faces a tough challenge to eliminate Leverkusen, which hasn’t lost all season.
