Leverkusen eventually saw off West Ham United in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) quarterfinal tie, as substitutes Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface came up with the goods for the soon-to-be Bundesliga champions.
Leverkusen took no chances in this game, starting their A-team, which featured all its key players including Granit Xhaka, Florian Wirtz, Exequiel Palacios, Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah, Jeremie Frimpong, Alejandro Grimaldo, and Patrick Schick.
West Ham, for its part, also started some key players, like Kurt Zouma, James Ward-Prowse, Mohamed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Michail Antonio. Jarrod Bowen did not start.
West Ham held off Leverkusen for the vast majority of the game, trying to withstand pressure from Xabi Alonso’s men, but in the 83rd minute, Hofmann found a way past the West Ham goalie Lukasz Fabianski.
Boniface also netted one minute into added time, sealing a 2-0 victory.
Leverkusen will be confident going into the second leg next week, but the Hammers are left with all the work to do for the second leg, as they have to find ways to score multiple times, while keeping out Leverkusen’s machine.
