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Bayer Leverkusen has achieved an important victory in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Europa League. In the BayArena in Leverkusen it was just too strong for West Ham United: 2-0. As so often this season, the goals only came late in the second half. Substitute Jonas Hofmann scored the opening goal, after which Victor Boniface determined the final score. Leverkusen can therefore head into this weekend's championship match with a good feeling.
At Leverkusen, trainer Xabi Alonso once again had place in the starting line-up for Jeremie Frimpong. At West Ham, Mohammed Kudus could count on a place in the first eleven. Edson Álvarez was missing from the selection due to a suspension.
West Ham's intentions were clear quite quickly. The team mainly collapsed and hoped to become dangerous in transition through Kudus and Michail Antonio. Leverkusen had difficulty finding a way through, but were given some opportunities through Patrik Schick and Amine Adli. Lukasz Fabianski looked sharp and always had an answer to Leverkusen's attempts.
Halfway through the first half, Lucas Paquetá provided the most talked about moment of the first half. The Brazilian could no longer control his frustrations and hit Adli hard. The Germans wanted to see red, but the referee dismissed the incident with a yellow card. Moments later, Paquetá also stood on Florian Wirtz's toes, but escaped his second yellow card. Paquetá has nevertheless been suspended for next week's return due to his yellow card.
West Ham mainly focused on defending in the first half and did not get much further than an opportunity for Kudus, who put Lukás Hrádecký to work. The English also had few attacking intentions in the second half. At Leverkusen it became increasingly difficult in the second act and most people seemed to have their heads already focused on the upcoming championship celebration. With a win over Werder Bremen, the champagne could be uncorked this weekend.
Halfway through the second half, the home team had a nice opportunity to open the score. Alejandro Grimaldo cleverly got past his opponent with a technical feat and crossed the ball just in front of the back line. Schick quickly headed the ball towards the goal, but Fabianski responded adequately and was able to tap the ball over the crossbar. In the remainder, Leverkusen looked for a hole in the English defense.
That hole was found about ten minutes before time. Substitute Boniface's attempt was saved from a corner by Grimaldo, but the falling ball was immediately taken out of the air by Hofmann: 1-0. Leverkusen then even came close to scoring the second goal, but Jonathan Tah's attempt was cleared off the line.
That second goal eventually came. On Hofmann's instructions, Boniface also enhanced his substitute with an important goal, making the starting position in the return considerably better for the Germans. The return will take place in London next Thursday.
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