Xabi Alonso says Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run is “a consequence of a good job” after they progressed to the Europa League semi-finals with a 3-1 aggregate victory over West Ham United.
Alonso’s team fell behind to Michail Antonio’s early header and struggled to meet their usual standards in the first half, while the hosts created several additional chances.
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Leverkusen, fresh off their first Bundesliga title win, markedly improved after half-time, missing many opportunities before substitute Jeremie Frimpong’s shot deflected past Lukasz Fabianski in the 89th minute, with the score ending 1-1 on the night.
The result means Leverkusen have now gone 44 matches unbeaten in all competitions and are still on course for winning a treble, having won the German league title and also progressed to the final of DFB-Pokal.
Speaking to TNT Sports, head coach Alonso said: “We were expecting that (a physical game) West Ham have really good players, good energy, credit to them. They were totally different to how they were in Leverkusen.
“Not to show a soft mentality in a tough moment is very important because if you want to progress in Europe and reach semi-finals and hopefully a little bit further, you need to deal with difficult moments as well because it is not always possible to control the 90 minutes.
“They were standing in those tough moments and going through them, it was the key for not conceding the second or third goal.
“I am happy to go through. In the Europa League you always have tough moments. The records (unbeaten run) are a consequence of a good job.”
Leverkusen will play Roma in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They are next in action this Sunday at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
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