Jose Mourinho and Xabi Alonso faced off in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final on Thursday night, with Roma emerging victorious with a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the Stadio Olimpico. The hosts soaked up plenty of pressure from their opponents and frustrated them before Edoardo Bove netted his first European goal shortly after the hour-mark. Leverkusen gave an early indication of their threat when Moussa Diaby launched a swift counter-attack, but it was Roma who had the best chance of the first half when Roger Ibanez’s goal-bound header was brilliantly saved by Lukas Hradecky. Roma continued to frustrate Leverkusen in the second half and eventually got their reward when Bove pounced on a loose ball and fired into the bottom corner. The German side had a chance to equalise late on, but Jeremie Frimpong’s follow-up effort was blocked on the line.
In the other semi-final, Juventus struck deep into added time in the first leg in Turin to take a 1-1 draw to Seville in a week’s time. The Italian giants were undone in the first half by a swift counter-attack that saw Youssef En-Nesyri score, but Federico Gatti secured a dramatic equaliser in the 97th minute.
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