Leverkusen are close to reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League! They beat West Ham 2:0 at home, four Czechs also played

The highlight of Thursday evening was the clash between Bayer Leverkusen and West Ham, which featured four Czech footballers. Both teams seemed to have saved their good football for the rematch, and we had to wait until the 83rd minute for a goal, when Jonas Hofmann made the decisive breakthrough.

Bayer Leverkusen went into the match as big favourites. It shouldn’t have been, since it hasn’t tasted the taste of defeat yet in the 2023/24 season. They are quietly going for the German title and would love to lift the Europa League trophy above their heads.

In contrast, West Ham have been variable in their performances and results and in Leverkusen it was more about getting a promising result heading into the rematch the very next week.

The visitors had the first chance of the game, Mohammed Kudus fired on the edge of the box but the goalkeeper dealt with his shot. It was a similar story in the 20th minute, but this time Lukasz Fabianski came up big after a nice shot from Alejandro Grimaldo.

Czech striker Patrik Schick also had his chance on goal, firing towards the bar after half an hour of play, but Fabianski refused to cash in and was on the spot again in time.

West Ham demanded a penalty kick shortly afterwards, but the referee did not blow the whistle and so the first half did not offer a goal. Certainly can’t say the second was much more attractive though.

Both teams had partial chances, it was played more from whitewash to whitewash and the goalkeepers didn’t sweat too much. In the 71st minute, however, Fabianski had to show his qualities as he knocked a promising header from Schick onto the crossbar.

The fans in the stadium waited until the 83rd minute for the first goal, when substitute Jonas Hofmann got to a deflected ball and fired a shot from the first that pierced everything in its path.

And Leverkusen kept up the pressure. The goal sparked them and eventually we saw one more goal, which was taken care of by Victor Boniface’s header. Leverkusen will take an excellent lead into the rematch.

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