EUROPA LEAGUE: Advantage Roma after Bove upsets Leverkusen
ROME: Edoardo Bove’s second-half goal gave Jose Mourinho’s Roma the advantage over Bayer Leverkusen after the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.
The 20-year-old passed into the bottom corner after Tammy Abraham’s shot was saved to score his first European goal.
Leverkusen’s best chance saw Florian Wirtz drag wide in the sixth minute.
They had a chance to equalise in the 86th minute but Jeremie Frimpong’s effort after a mistake by Rui Patricio was blocked.
Penalty appeals from the same incident were waved away by Premier League referee Michael Oliver.
However, Roma could have taken the lead before half-time but for an excellent save to keep out Roger Ibanez’s header.
If they advance to the final, Mourinho would hope to maintain an outstanding record – he guided Roma to success in the Europa Conference League last season and has won his previous five European finals in charge of Porto, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma.
The game saw Mourinho up against his former player at Real Madrid in Xavi Alonso, with the Spaniard, now manager at Leverkusen, having previously played 151 games for the Portuguese manager over three seasons.
Juve latecomers
Federico Gatti scored a 97th-minute equaliser to earn Juventus a draw against Sevilla in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.
Gatti headed in from two yards after Paul Pogba superbly kept the ball in as a Danilo header was set to drift wide.
It cancelled out Youssef En-Nesyri’s 26th-minute goal, with the striker stroking in Lucas Ocampos’ cross.
Sevilla dominated the game for large periods but were left to rue missed chances by En-Nesyri and Ocampos.
Juventus were lacklustre for most of the game, with Gatti’s header only their second effort on target in the game.
Sevilla, who knocked out Manchester United in the quarter-finals, have won the Europa League a record six times, most recently in 2020.
They had 13 shots including five on target, and arguably should have left Turin with a bigger advantage with En-Nesyri taking too long to shoot when through on goal moments after his opener.
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