Josip Stanisic’s injury time equaliser preserved Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run (UEFA via Getty)
Bayer Leverkusen have reached the Europa League final and an injury-time goal has extended their incredible unbeaten run to 49 games.
Xabi Alonso’s side appeared to be on course for their first defeat of the season on Thursday evening as two penalties from Leandro Paredes levelled the tie on aggregate for Roma.
But an own goal from Gianluca Mancini put Leverkusen 3-2 ahead on aggregate before Josip Stanisic’s injury-time equaliser salvaged a 2-2 draw for the Bundesliga champions to preserve their unbeaten record this term.
By drawing against Roma, Leverkusen now have the longest unbeaten run in the history of European football, overtaking Benfica’s record of 48 games unbeaten in all competitions between December 1963 and February 1965.
Leverkusen will now play Atalanta – who ran out 3-0 winners against Marseille in the other semi final on Thursday evening – in the Europa League final in Dublin on May 22.
Alonso’s side, who sealed their Bundesliga victory last month, remain on course to complete an unprecedented unbeaten treble as they also play Koln in the DFB-Pokal final on May 25.
Bayer Leverkusen will play Atalanta in the Europa League final on May 22 (UEFA via Getty)
Speaking after Leverkusen’s win, Granit Xhaka told TNT Sports: ‘Much more deserved. If you see all the game, we had so many chances. This is football. It is the nice part of football.
‘For the mentality we showed again today against a big team to come back like this and go through to the final. We are more than happy today.
‘You see the desire from the team, we didn’t want to slow down. We wanted to score the next goal to keep going unbeaten, 49 times now. We are proud of it.
‘Roma is a team that has a lot of experience and they do things very well but I think over two games the better team has gone to the final.’
More Trending
Speaking about facing Atalanta in the Europa League final, Xhaka said: ‘We have a lot of respect for Atalanta and first of all, we are happy to be in the final.
‘We have time now to prepare and analyse, but we have some games to go still.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.