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Boniface Scores As Brilliant Leverkusen Stretch Unbeaten Run To 50 Games

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Bayer Leverkusen stretched their season-long unbeaten run to 50 games with a 5-0 win at 10-man Bochum on Sunday.

Bochum defeated a 10-man Leverkusen in May 2023, the last side to beat Xabi Alonso’s side in any competition, but the tables turned on Sunday with Leverkusen’s goals coming from five different scorers.

Alonso’s league champions are just one game away from the first unbeaten Bundesliga season and three games from a remarkable treble.

Bochum lost a man early when Felix Passlack saw red for a last-man foul on Nathan Tella.

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With attacking midfield maestro Florian Wirtz missing through injury, Alonso started strikers Victor Boniface and Patrik Schick and both had a goal by half-time.

Schick blasted in an Arthur cross with a superb first-touch finish after 41 minutes. Boniface converted a penalty five minutes later after Tella was fouled in the box.

Amine Adli, brought on for Schick with 20 minutes remaining, headed in a corner to make it 3-0.

Josip Stanisic, who scored in stoppage time to keep Leverkusen’s unbeaten run alive against Roma in the Europa League on Thursday, added a fourth with three minutes remaining before setting up Alex Grimaldo’s goal in the final moments.

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Within three days in late May, Leverkusen face Atalanta in the Europa League final in Dublin before taking on second-division Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final.

No Kane, no problem for Bayern
Thomas Tuchel’s heavily changed Bayern Munich line-up made short work of Wolfsburg at home, winning 2-0 to leapfrog Stuttgart into second spot.

Tuchel made eight changes to the side eliminated from the Champions League with a 2-1 loss at Real Madrid on Wednesday, with England captain Harry Kane, out with back issues, missing his first league match of the season.

If the England captain returns next week, Kane — currently on 36 league goals this season — will have just one match remaining to try and reach Robert Lewandowski’s all-time record of 41.

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Bayern captain Manuel Neuer was proud with his side for bouncing back after the disappointing and controversial loss to Real.

“We were in control for over 90 minutes and got into the game well, that was crucial,” Neuer told DAZN.

“Real was difficult to deal with, today we had to ignore it – we did a good job of that.”

The win sends Bayern two points clear of Stuttgart in second with one game remaining.

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Croatian midfielder Lovro Zvonarek, aged just 19, celebrated his first start by scoring after four minutes. Leon Goretzka was set up by Thomas Mueller just 10 minutes later.

Four minutes after Goretzka’s goal, Spain winger Bryan Zaragoza, also making his first league start for Bayern, had a goal was ruled out for offside.

Bayern, who will finish the season without a trophy for the first time since 2012, gradually took the sting out of the match and handed out further debuts in the final stages.

Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz came on late in the second half, replacing Bayern captain Manuel Neuer who was playing his 500th Bundesliga game. Teenagers Matteo Perez Vinlof and Jonathan Asp-Jensen also came on.

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“Daniel has given the team so much and shown good performances, he simply deserves to get minutes,” said Neuer.

The loss means Wolfsburg are yet to win in the Bavarian capital after 27 games.

Earlier on Sunday, Hoffenheim boosted their chances of qualifying for Europe with a 6-0 demolition of already relegated Darmstadt.

Both Ihlas Bebou and Maximilian Beier scored doubles with Pavel Kaderabek and former Liverpool centre-back Ozan Kabak adding goals against the last-placed team.

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AFP

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Xabi Alonso confirms  Bayer Leverkusen exit as Real Madrid move beckons

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Xabi Alonso has confirmed that he is leaving Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season, with the Spanish coach expected to join Real Madrid.

In a news conference on Friday, Alonso — who has spent three years at Leverkusen, guiding them to a historic undefeated league campaign in 2023-24 as part of a domestic double — said that he will depart after his team’s two remaining Bundesliga games.

Alonso refused to discuss his future, saying it was “not the moment,” but a Real Madrid source told ESPN on Friday that Alonso is “close” to becoming the club’s new coach, with Carlo Ancelotti expected to leave after Madrid’s last LaLiga game against Real Sociedad.

“This week, the club and I have agreed that these two games will be my last as Bayer Leverkusen coach,” Alonso said. “It’s always about the moment, and now is the right moment to announce it. We’ve always had good, direct communication with the club, and now we have clarity.

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“We want to have a proper farewell on Sunday [at home, against Borussia Dortmund]. It’s emotional, I talked to the players this morning. It’s been an unbelievable, fantastic three years, and now it’s a moment to share with the fans on Sunday … I think we can be proud of what we have achieved. We’ve been taking the club in the right direction.”

Alonso — a former Real Madrid midfielder, who began his coaching career with their academy — has long been Madrid’s preferred candidate to succeed Ancelotti.

The Italian has come under pressure after Madrid’s elimination in the Champions League quarterfinals and defeat in the Copa del Rey final, although his team go into Sunday’s Clásico at Barcelona still with a chance of winning the LaLiga title.

“After Mainz, once the season is wrapped, it will be the moment for the next thing,” Alonso said on Friday.

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It is not yet clear whether Alonso would take charge of Madrid immediately, to coach them in this summer’s Club World Cup in the United States, or whether Madrid will appoint an interim coach for the tournament.

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PSG beats Arsenal to reach Champions League final, will face Inter Milan in final

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Paris Saint-Germain have secured their place in the UEFA Champions League final after a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night, completing a 3-1 aggregate win in the semi-finals.

The French champions, holding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, extended their advantage early in the match when Fabián Ruiz unleashed a powerful strike in the 27th minute, leaving Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya with no chance.

PSG doubled their lead in the 72nd minute, with Achraf Hakimi finishing off a well-orchestrated team move to make it 2-0 on the night.

Arsenal managed to pull one back in the 76th minute through Bukayo Saka, who capitalized on a defensive lapse to slot the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

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Despite late pressure, the Gunners couldn’t find the equalizer, and PSG held on to advance to the final.

In the other semi-final, Inter Milan triumphed over Barcelona in a thrilling encounter that ended 4-3 after extra time, giving the Italian side a 7-6 aggregate victory.

Davide Frattesi scored the decisive goal in the 99th minute, while goalkeeper Yann Sommer made several crucial saves to preserve the lead.

The Champions League final is set for May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, where PSG will face Inter Milan in a highly anticipated showdown.

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Inter Snatch Late Winner Against Barcelona In Champions League Thriller

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Davide Frattesi fired Inter Milan into the Champions League final on Tuesday with an extra-time winner, which gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate.

Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy.

Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, where they will feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after coming out on top in an epic contest.

Tuesday’s triumph saved Inter’s season as their bid for the treble went up in smoke after getting past Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

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Inter conceded top spot in Serie A to Napoli, who are favourites to claim the domestic league title, after getting past Bayern, while AC Milan dumped them out of the Italian Cup a fortnight ago.

But Inter ended Barca’s hopes for the quadruple and now head into the final weeks of the season buoyant with a second Champions League final in three seasons to look forward to.

Frattesi’s winning goal, his seventh of the season and probably the most important of his career, was all the more incredible for the fact that Inter should by rights have already been eliminated.

The hosts were heading out with two minutes remaining of regular time when Raphinha completed a comeback from two goals down at half-time and gave Barca a 3-2 lead on the night.

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But Francesco Acerbi stunned everyone in the stadium, not least the already-celebrating Barca supporters, when he forced home Denzel Dumfries’ cross in the second minute of added time.

That goal came as a bolt from the blue as Barca had been by far the better team in the second half of normal time after going in at the break behind to a brilliant Lautaro Martinez goal and Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in first-half stoppage time.

Eric Garcia and Dani Olmo pulled Barca level with goals in the 54th and 60th minutes, both from sumptuous Gerard Martin deliveries, and Yann Sommer had to be at his best to keep Inter within touching distance.

Sommer made possibly the save of the season between Barca’s first two goals, somehow stopping Eric Garcia from finishing off a lightning Barca counter-attack.

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And the Swiss ended up being crucial again in the 113th minute when he pulled off another miraculous save from Lamine Yamal, who hit the post just before Acerbi’s equaliser.

Inter then held off Barca as the home fans held their breath before unleashing a mighty roar at the final whistle of the match of the season.

AFP

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