Leverkusen begin Europa League campaign with 2-0 victory over Celje

Despite an inspired performance from Zan-Luk Leban in the Celje net, Carles Martinez’s side got the job done at home tonight, securing a 2-0 victory with goals in either half. 

Leverkusen started on the front foot and created the first opening after just a minute, when Martin Terrier’s cross found Moussa Diaby inside the box. However, his attempted volley was blocked by Benjamin Verbic.

Celje showed plenty of willingness to compete during the opening stages and earned their first corner in the fourth minute, although Loïc Badé was able to clear Svit Seslar’s delivery. At the other end, Patrik Schick then found space inside the box but could only fire narrowly wide of the far post.

The hosts began to turn the screw as the half progressed. Martin Terrier came particularly close in the 12th minute when his effort from around 20 yards was tipped onto the post by Celje goalkeeper Leban.

Leban was called into action again shortly afterwards, making an excellent save to deny Edmond Tapsoba’s close-range header from Aleix Garcia’s free-kick.

Leverkusen’s pressure finally paid off in the 15th minute, albeit in unfortunate circumstances for the visitors. Malik Tillman played a short corner to Garcia, who delivered into the penalty area. Seslar got a touch on the ball but could only divert it beyond his own goalkeeper to give Leverkusen the lead.

The goal further increased Leverkusen’s control and they continued to threaten. Garcia was denied by Leban after combining with Schick, while Terrier also saw a promising opportunity saved by the Celje goalkeeper.

The visitors gradually found a way into the game towards the half-hour mark. Verbic forced Mark Flekken into action in the 31st minute after beating two Leverkusen defenders and shooting from inside the box. Flekken saved well before gathering the follow-up header.

Leverkusen responded by regaining control, with Schick heading over from Diaby’s cross before Garcia saw a deflected effort miss the target.

Celje came close to an equaliser shortly before the interval, though. Verbic’s cross found Seslar at the near post, but his header towards the bottom corner was superbly kept out by Flekken.

Leverkusen had one final opportunity before the break when Facundo Medina’s cross picked out Schick, but the striker’s header went narrowly wide.

The hosts therefore headed into the interval 1-0 ahead, with Leban’s excellent performance keeping Celje within touching distance.

Leban was called into action just minutes after the restart as Leverkusen threatened to extend their advantage. A rebound fell kindly into the path of Facundo Medina inside the area, allowing the Argentine to fire towards goal from close range, only for the Celje goalkeeper to come up trumps once again.

With the hosts continuing to ask all the questions going forward in the second half, they finally killed off a stubborn Celje side with 74 minutes on the clock. Leverkusen had already hit the bar following another superb save from Leban, but from the resulting corner, Garcia delivered a floated ball towards the back post, where Medina was waiting to fire a first-time volley towards goal. The effort found its way into the net via a Celje player to make it 2-0.

Leverkusen saw out the remainder of the game with ease, navigating the final 15 minutes and three minutes of added time to claim a comfortable two-goal victory and kick off their Europa League campaign with three points.