Super Eagles striker, Victor Boniface, is on the verge of leading Bayer Leverkusen to their second final of the season.
The Bundesliga champions are already in the final of the DFB-Pokal, the German FA Cup, where they will meet Kaiserslautern in the final on May 25. And now, they are one step to their ambition of adding the Europa League title to complete the treble this season.
The Xabi Alonso boys, who defeated AS Roma 2-0 in the first leg of the tie, are expected to seal their passage to the final at the Bay Arena today.
Boniface has scored five goals in seven appearances of a campaign that was almost halted halfway by injury. Since the Nigerian returned to action last month, he has been instrumental in the some important wins as Leverkusen aims to end the season unbeaten.
Leverkusen equaled Benfica’s 59-year-old 48-game unbeaten streak last weekend when they defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in the Bundesliga. The German champions will be keen to break the record against Roma.
But pundits expect Roma to put up a great fight to overturn the deficit as they look to make their third consecutive European finals.
The allure of stopping Leverkun’s unbeaten streak may serve as additional motivation for Danielle De Rossi’s men.
In the other semifinal second leg tie today, Atalanta will be banking on the home crowd to stir them to a first European final when Marseille comes visiting. The home side failed to defend an early lead at Stade de Marseille last week as the match ended 1-1.
Marseille’s coach, Jean-Louis Gasset will be worried about his side’s away record in Europe, having won only one of their six games on foreign soil in the competition this season, losing at Villarreal in the last 16 and Benfica in the quarter-finals. He will be banking on tournament’s top scorer, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to fire the team to another European final.
In the Conference League, the last English team in Europe, Aston Villa face an arduous task of overturning a 2-4 first-leg defeat at home when they visit the Karaiskakis Stadium to take on Olympiacos.
