“Bayer Leverkusen aims to overturn AS Roma in Europa League semifinals in front of sold-out audience”

The Germans go home on Thursday (from 9 p.m. in the Sport24 live ticker) with a 0:1 mortgage in the return game. The goal of the Werkself under coach Xabi Alonso is the final on May 31 in Budapest. “We want more and we are ready for a great night,” said Alonso on Wednesday. In the second semi-final it is 1-1 between FC Sevilla and Juventus.

After years of sporting “Ebbe” Leverkusen is in demand again. All tickets for the home game against Roma with star trainer José Mourinho were sold out in 90 minutes, and the number of members has increased by a third over the past six months to almost 35,000. Success has a face, namely that of Alonso, who as a player has won everything there is to win.

The Spaniard has now brought the winning mentality to Leverkusen, where ÖFB keeper Patrick Pentz is on the bench. The club could reach a European Cup final for the first time in 21 years. The optimism is unbroken despite the first leg defeat. “0:1 – there are still good options to reach the final. It takes balance, energy and passion to win,” explained Alonso, who has to do without regular players Robert Andrich (metatarsal fracture) and Odilon Kossounou (muscle injury). .

Leverkusen expect Mourinho bulwark

For this, however, Mourinho’s bulwark in defense must be overcome. “We have to get the defense moving in order to create space,” said young DFB star Floria Wirtz and spoke of the “most important and most beautiful game of the season”. “There doesn’t have to be a miracle tomorrow. We know we can go through.”

Nevertheless, the Romans are easy to favour, which is also due to the coaching fox Mourinho. After the triumph in the Conference League last year, the Portuguese and his team around captain Lorenzo Pellegrini now want to go one floor higher. The 60-year-old knows only too well how that works: in 2017 he won the Europa League with Manchester United, and the previous competition, the UEFA Cup, in 2003 with FC Porto. Alonso said of the reunion in Turin with his ex-coach at Real: “It was nice. But when we’re on the bench, we both fight. It’s going to be an intense game.”

In the second semi-final (from 9 p.m. in the Sport24 live ticker), FC Sevilla will defend its reputation as a Europa League specialist. The six-time competition and thus record winner created a good starting point for the second leg in the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán with the 1-1 in Turin. Juventus, on the other hand, wants to end the ups and downs this season at the top – with a guest appearance in Budapest.