O-Ton aus UK - Unisono gibts das hohe Loblied auf Team und Atmosphäre im Stadion:
11 April 2024 • 11:26pm
The Telegraph - "Bayer Leverkusen shatter West Ham’s resistance in Europa League"
After 83 minutes of resistance, West Ham were finally broken down by Germany’s “Invincibles”, who have still not lost a game this season and took a huge stride towards the Europa League semi-finals after late strikes from Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface.
21:57 BST, 11 April 2024
Daily Mail - "Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 West Ham: Hammers suffer late heartbreak in Germany... as goals from substitutes Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface put Xabi Alonso's men in charge of Europa League quarter-final tie"
If you had offered David Moyes a draw at kick-off, he would most certainly have taken it. If you had offered him a narrow defeat, he would probably have taken that too. West Ham nearly had both, but two late Bayer Leverkusen goals means they face an uphill task of keeping their European dream alive.
Thu 11 Apr 2024 23.07 CEST
The Guardian - "Hofmann and Boniface give Leverkusen first-leg advantage against West Ham"
There is an inevitability to Bayer Leverkusen’s late shows. On a night of tension and occasional ill-temper at a bouncing BayArena, where patience was stretched by West Ham’s stifling tactics, the Bundesliga’s champions-elect stayed cool, used their bench and were rewarded for trusting in themselves by scoring twice in the dying stages.
The Standard - "West Ham depth exposed as Bayer Leverkusen late show breaks brave resistance"
There was no hiding from the scale of the challenge, no reason for the usual grumbling at the conservative set-up of David Moyes and his West Ham team. For 83 minutes here in Leverkusen, facing a side unbeaten in 41 matches, the plan was if not quite working to perfection then on course to reap reward. The scores goalless, the Hammers were within sight of the prize, a return flight home to London and next week’s second leg on equal terms. At the last, though, they crumbled, first Jonas Hofmann and then, crucially, Victor Boniface striking to wrestle control of this quarter-final tie.
