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Leverkusen celebrates the double goal scorer Robert Andrich
Photo: Marius Becker / dpa
Bayer Leverkusen turned a deficit into a victory late on matchday five of the Europa League group stage.
In the home game against the Scottish club Celtic Glasgow, the factory club were 1: 2 behind, but in the end the Bundesliga club celebrated a 3: 2 (1: 1) success.
Bayer is sure to win the group, as well as the round of 16.
Robert Andrich had put Leverkusen in the lead after a corner kick (16th minute), Josip Juranovic equalized with a penalty kick before the break (40th). Jota (56th) then took care of the guests' winning goal. After a counterattack initiated by Celtic keeper Joe Hart with a long tee shot, the striker was successful. Andrich (82nd) equalized again, before Moussa Diaby turned the game in favor of Leverkusen.
Leverkusen had some unused opportunities.
The two best had Diaby, who first hit the crossbar - and immediately afterwards Florian Wirtz, who shot the rebound from close range to the post (44th).
Wirtz also failed in the 53rd minute when Hart cleared by foot.
The keeper also secured the attempt to follow up Amine Adli.
Hart also parried Adli's next big chance (80th).
In the Europa Conference League, Union Berlin can continue to hope for a place in the knockout round.
At Maccabi Haifa, a header by Julian Ryerson (66th) made the difference in favor of Urs Fischer's team, who had rarely been able to play dangerous offensive actions in the 1-0 (0-0) against the Israeli champions.
In a game with few opportunities, the Berlin team seemed more insecure than Maccabi for a long time due to frequent bad passes in the build-up game and were lucky that Dean David shot a big chance over the bar five meters from the Union goal (48th). It didn't get much more dangerous for the Berliners, however. On the other side, Max Kruse narrowly missed the best chance to date with a long shot (56th), then Ryerson headed a cross from Sheraldo Becker from the baseline back to the penalty spot to lead into the net (67th).
Maccabi was unable to manage a final offensive and was eliminated.
Union, on the other hand, has a final on the last matchday at home against Slavia Prague: If the Berliners win by two goals, they move into the knockout phase as the second-placed team behind Feyenoord Rotterdam.
There would first be the intermediate round, in which a third group from the Europa League would be the opponent.
cev / bka
