Bayer Leverkusen eked out a narrow, albeit well-deserved, 1-0 home win against Milan in Tuesday’s blockbuster Champions League clash. Xabi Alonso gave credit to the Rossoneri for ‘causing us problems’ after posting another European victory.
Leverkusen got their Champions League campaign off to a dream start, dispatching Feyenoord 4-0 in Rotterdam. By contrast, Milan lost 3-1 to Liverpool at home, throwing their hopes of reaching the knockout stages in doubt.
Therefore, Milan desperately needed something at the BayArena. However, Victor Boniface’s goal early in the second half crushed their dreams. Paulo Fonseca’s side tried to respond, but they couldn’t beat Lukas Hradecky.
Content with his team’s performance, Alonso praised Leverkusen for another convincing performance.
“I think it is great news that German football is competitive,” he told Sky Sport Italia, as reported by MilanNews. “It was a great result against a Milan side that really caused us a lot of problems, so we had to alternate between when we were in control and when they took the initiative.“
Alonso admits Milan put Die Werkself through a lot of trouble. But it’s hardly any consolation, with the Italian giants’ chances of securing automatic knockout qualification taking another significant blow.
Milan ended the game besting Leverkusen in many statistic perimeters. They enjoyed more ball possession (52%) and had 17 attempts on goal but to no avail. One of Leverkusen’s 16 shots found its way past Mike Maignan to leave the Rossoneri pointless after the opening two Champions League rounds.
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