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The German Bundesliga team Bayer, Leverkusen, won a devastating victory in the last UEFA Europa League group tournament game on Thursday and joined the other teams that reached the playoffs. At home, Bayer defeated Czech club Slavia in Prague in the final round of Group C with 4: 0 (2: 0).
Leons Bailejs put the home team in the lead in the eighth minute, but in the 32nd minute after his hit, the scoreboard was already 2: 0. Musa Diabī also stood out in the 14th minute of the second half, but Karim Belarabi gave the final word in the first minute of the compensation time.
“Bayer” became only the third team in the history of this tournament on Thursday, which managed to score at least 21 “goals” in the group tournament. In the 2014/15 season, it was done by the Austrian team Salzburg’s Red Bull, but two years later it was also succeeded by the Ukrainian club Donetsk “Šahtar”.
In the 2015/16 season, the Italian A-series team “Napoli” was able to send 22 balls in the opponents’ goal, which is the best performance in the group tournament so far. Both teams had already secured a place in the playoffs before this duel. Bayer finished the main event with 15 points, but the Prague team was second with three points less.
Elsewhere in the Group A game, the Italian club “AS Roma” suffered an unexpected loss, giving up 1: 3 (1: 2) to Sofia’s CSKA. Tjagu Rodriguez had a chance to take the lead on Tomaso Milanese’s dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled away as his shot went just over the bar after 17 minutes. The victory for Sofia was ensured by Gambia footballer Ali Sove, who stood out in the 34th and 55th minutes. It is significant that in the first meeting of both teams “AS Roma” did not score, with the clubs playing 0-0.
In the second game of this group, the Swiss champion team Bern “Young Boys” won the Cluj-Napoca CFR 2: 1 (0: 0) at home. The game was opened in the 84th minute by CFR player Gabriel Debeljuhs, but during the compensation the Swiss scored two goals and took the victory. In the fourth minute of the compensation time, Jean-Pierre Nsame achieved 1: 1 with the help of a “pendulum”, but two minutes later, Januca Gaudino forged success. The elimination games reached AS Roma and Young Boys, who scored 13 and ten points respectively.
Meanwhile, Arsenal in London won the Irish team Dundalk 4: 2 (2: 1) in the B subgroup, which last year won the Latvian champions Riga in the UEFA Champions League qualifying tournament “pendulum”. Joseph Wilkock won the England club in the 67th minute, reaching 3: 2. Arsenal are the only team that did not lose a point in the group games in this tournament.
The Norwegian team “Molde” also reached the exclusion of this group, playing in the draw 2: 2 (1: 1) with the Vienna “Rapid”. Magnus Eikrems scored both “Molde” goals, winning an important point for the team in the fight for the “play-off”. Arsenal scored a maximum of 18 points in six games, while Molde followed with ten.
In subgroup F, “Napoli” played a draw 1: 1 (1: 0) at home with San Sebastian’s “Real Sociedad” from Spain. Pjotr Zeļinskis stood out for the Italian team, but Villians José drew a draw in the second minute of the game’s compensation time.
The Spanish club was lucky that the Dutch team AZ Alkmaar lost in the second game of this group, as both teams had eight points before the sixth group tournament game.
“AZ Alkmaar” gave away 1: 2 (0: 0) to “Rijeka” from Croatia. The Dutch team had to make a substitution in the third minute of the offensive game, as Ivan Tomečak made a precise shot. Napoli scored 11 points in six games, two less for Real Sociedad and eight points for AZ Alkmaar.
The remaining 12 group tournament games are also taking place on Thursday. AS Roma, AC Milan (both Italy), Tottenham Hotspur, London Arsenal, Leicester City (all England), Glasgow Rangers (Scotland) have won the UEFA European League elimination tournament. Lisbon, Benfica, Braga (both Portugal), Lille (France), Villarreal, Granada, San Sebastian Real Sociedad (all Spain), Antwerp (Belgium), Eindhoven PSV ( Netherlands), Dinamo in Zagreb (Croatia), Hoffenheim, Bayer in Leverkusen (both Germany), Young Boys in Bern (Switzerland), Molde (Norway), Slavia in Prague (Czech Republic) and Belgrade. “Crvena zvezda” (Serbia).
The final will be held on May 26 this year in Gdansk, where the title match was supposed to take place last season, but due to the spread of Covid-19 was moved to Cologne. In a year, the finals are scheduled in Seville, and in 2023 – in Budapest. Last year, in the final, “Sevilla” from Spain won the Milan “Inter” 3: 2.
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