Goals in both half of Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella saw Bayer Leverkusen progress until the last 16 of the Champions League after a 2-0 win over Sparta Prague.
2024/2025 UEFA Champions League
2-0
- Wirtz (32 ')
- Tella (64 ')
Match report
In the result, Leverkusen ends sixth in the new classification of 36 teams, with the possibility of collision with Manchester City, Celtic, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen dominated the opening fairs and took place in the 32nd minute when Wirtz shot Peter Vindahl after he was selected by Jeremie Frimpong.
The Bundesliga champions spent a large part of the match in half of their opponents, but could not add their advantage before the interval.
Tella, however, took the goal that deserved their performance just after the hour and ended on the rebound after Alex Grimaldo's free kick was parried by Vindahl.
Victor Olatunji Visiting threatened to reduce the shortage as the second half progressed, but Leverkusen was able to retain an important victory.
For Sparta they fall out of the competition after a disappointing campaign, after they had only claimed four points of their eight games.
Data Debrief: Home Comfort
Leverkusen have been impressed since Alonso arrived at the club in 2022, but their home form is an important improvement among the Spaniard, nothing more than in Europe.
The Bundesliga champions have now won four consecutive Champions League matches for the first time, while they have also held a clean sheet in four straight home competitions in large European competitions -their longest run since May 1988 (five in the UEFA Cup).
Since the start of last season, no team has won more competitions than Leverkusen in large European competition (14 – level with Real Madrid and Liverpool). In the meantime, only Barcelona and Real Madrid (each 48) have achieved more goals than Alonso's side (46) in the same period.
And Leverkusen was worth their victory. They tried 26 shots against Sparta, while only once record (since 2003-04) they had more in a Champions League match (29 v RB Salzburg in November 2024).
Line-ups
Leverkusen XI: Xhaka, Grimaldo, Tah, Schick, Mukiele, Exequiz Palacios, Tapsoba, Tella, Kovar, Jeremie Frimpong, Wirtz
Subs: Hradecky, Lomb, Hofmann, Andrich, A.García, Arthur, Artem Stepanov, Francis Onyeka, Kerim Alajbegovic, Ben Hawighorst
Sparta Prague XI: Jaroslav Zelený, Lukas Sadilek, Asger Sörensen, Qazim Laci, Kaan Kairinen, Peter Vindahl, Tomas Wiesner, Veljko Birmancevic, Victor Olatunji, Martin Vitík, Adam Sevinskyy
Subs: Lukas Haraslin, Filip Panák, Mathias Ross, Jakub Surovcik, Krystof Danek, Ermal Krasniqi, Martin Suchomel, Lukas Penxa, Joeri Heerkens, Daniel Rus
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