Leverkusen exit the Europa League on away goals

LEVERKUSEN 1-1 KRASNODAR (1-1 on aggregate)
Goals: 0-1 Suleymanov (84'), 1-1 Aranguiz (87')

FULL-TIME: BAYER LEVERKUSEN 1-1 KRASNODAR
(KRASNODAR ADVANCE ON AWAY GOALS)

Well, well, did not see that coming. Leverkusen, so good in the Bundesliga recently, exit the UEFA Europa League on away goals to Krasnodar. A game brought to life in its dying embers but one, ultimately, so disappointing for a valiant Leverkusen. Their focus now switches to taking on Borussia Dortmund at the weekend and maintaining their push for a European place next season.

92' KEEPER'S UP

Hradecky is up for a corner and he so nearly gets on the end of it. Then it nearly falls to Tah but no dice. Leverkusen running out of time here.

90'+1 THREE MINUTES ADDED

Leverkusen throwing everything at this now, can they scramble home a late winner?

87' GOAL! LEVERKUSEN 1-1 KRASNODAR (ARANGUIZ)

What drama. After 174 minutes without a goal, we suddenly have two. Aranguiz fires home a superb strike and it's game on again. Can Leverkusen get one more to seal a dramatic qualification?

84' GOAL! LEVERKUSEN 0-1 KRASNODAR (SULEYMANOV)

Oh, dear. A late, late goal looks to have won this one for the Russians. Disappointing for Leverkusen but what a goal. Substitute Suleymanov curls a beauty into the bottom corner and now Leverkusen need at least two in the last five minutes.

83' WHAT'S IN RESERVE?

Looking at the Leverkusen bench, they have Paulinho and Kiese Thelin as attacking options on the bench. Feel we will see at least one of those two before we're done.

80' FINAL TEN MINUTES KLAXON

We're heading into the dying embers of the 90 minutes now. Will we se a goal? On evidence so far, it's unlikely...

77' KRASNODAR SUB: STOTSKI FOR CLAESSON

A defensive switch from the visitors. It looks like they want to take this to extra-time.

72' OFF THE BAR

Just as we say that, Leverkusen are so close to taking the lead. Alario's deflected strike loops over Safonov but rebounds safely off the bar. It's lifted the crowd, that's for sure.

70' KRASNODAR SUB: SULEYMANOV FOR IGNATYEV

Substitutions are the most eventful things happening at the minute, here. We could be in for the long haul.

66' LEVERKUSEN SUB: BAUMGARTLINGER FOR HAVERTZ

Some fresh Leverkusen legs and it's chief schemer Havertz who makes way. Interesting.

60' KRASNODAR SUB: GAZINSKI FOR OLSSON

A first change of the night and it comes courtesy of the Russians.

58' ON A KNIFE EDGE

This tie is finely in the balance. We're currently heading to extra-time at 0-0 but a goal for Leverkusen changes all that and an away goal for Krasnodar means the hosts will need at least two goals to progress. Tense.

56' GOALLESS AGAIN?

Leverkusen have been free scoring in the Bundesliga under Bosz with 13 goals in their last four league matches but they have struggled in the cups with defeat to second division Heidenhem and the 0-0 draw in the first-leg of this tie under the Dutchman.

50' HAVERTZ TESTER

A first real sight of goal for Havertz but the teenager can't add a fourth Europa League goal of the campaign and he shoots straight at the Krasnodar goalkeeper.

46' 2ND HALF KICKS-OFF

Here we go then. Unless we get a goal in these next 45 minutes, we're heading for extra-time and possibly penalties...

HALF-TIME: LEVERKUSEN 0-0 KRASNODAR

Both sides have had their chances but we're still goalless in this tie after 135 minutes of football. Leverkusen have had more of the ball but haven't quite found a way through yet, while Hradecky has made two superb saves to deny Krasnodar. All to play for still.

44' HRADECKY TO THE RESCUE

Claessen again has the chance to put the visitors in the lead but Hradecky once more denies the Russians. This time, Claessen is clean through on goal but the on rushing Leverkusen 'keeper does superbly to repel the Krasnodar man. Leverkusen have to be careful of those counters.

36' ALARIO DENIED

The Bundesliga outfit go so close to taking the lead as Brandt feeds Volland down the left who, in turn, picks out Alario in the middle but the Argentine's stretched effort is well saved by Safonov. The best chance of the night so far for the hosts.

30' SORE HEAD IN THE MORNING

That is going to hurt tomorrow. Havertz and Kabore clash heads as they go for a header and both are being treated after that collision. Havertz has come off the worst here but both look okay to continue.

26' A FINE SAVE

Hradecky keeps Leverkusen in this with a super stop. Diving full stretch to his right, Hradecky claws Claesson's header to safety. A bit of the late, great Gordon Banks versus Pele about it. A bit.

23' SIDE NETTING

Aranguiz nearly scores direct from the corner, his inswingwer close to catching Safonov out but the ball doesn't quite sneak into the near post and instead settles on the side netting.

19' ENTER BRAVERTZ

That much heralded duo of Brandt and Havertz combines for the first time and gets Leverkusen n behind the Krasnodar back-line for the first time. The ball almost finds its way to Volland but some fine defending prevents the Leverkusen captain from prodding home.

13' BAILEY GOES CLOSE

We'd just said Bailey was getting more and more involved and he nearly breaks the deadlock. The Jamaican winger finds space on the edge of the box and rifles a shot narrowly wide. Bailey providing Leverkusen's greatest attacking threat in these early exchanges.

11' BETTER FROM BAYER

Bailey is looking livelier now and he starts a nice move that ends in Weiser squaring to Aranguiz on the edge of the area but the Chilean strikes straight at Safonov for an easy collect.

7' GRATEFUL HRADECKY

It's the away side who threaten first despite having very little of the ball so far. A nicely worked move ends with Tah defending well to deflect the ball into his 'keeper's grateful hands. Krasnodar are growing into this now.

4' A QUIET START

Leverkusen have had all the ball so far but neither side has had any real foray into the opposition half. Patient stuff.

1' 1ST HALF KICK-OFF

We're underway in Leverkusen...

15 MINUTES TO GO

The teams are out on the pitch going through their warm-ups. Not long to go now!

TAH: "WE'LL GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT"

Meanwhile, Leverkusen centre-half Jonathan Tah can't wait for kick-off: "The Europa League is a special competition for us, particularly as we're no longer in the DFB Cup. We want to go as far as possible and this match is the first step. We'll give it everything we've got to reach the next round.

"In the first half of the season, a lot of people said that we have a lot of potential but that we don't demonstrate it on the pitch. Now we're starting to do that and want to do it again in this game."

BOSZ: "WE WON'T CHANGE OUR STYLE OF PLAY"

Speaking at his pre-match press conference yesterday, Leverkusen boss Peter Bosz said: "We'd have liked to have scored an away goal in Krasnodar in the first leg but unfortunately we didn't. That means it might be a dangerous game tomorrow, but we're not going to change our playing style because of that [...] It'll be a very difficult match."

WILL BAILEY END HIS GOAL DROUGHT?

Jet-heeled Jamaican winger Leon Bailey struggled for form in the first half of the season, but has been given a new lease of life in 2019 under new coach Peter Bosz. He's yet to score in seven Europa League outings this term, but has found the target twice in his last three Bundesliga games - including a stunner in the Matchday 20 victory over Bayern Munich.

NO SURPRISES FROM BOSZ

Leverkusen head coach Peter Bosz has gone with his tried and trusted line-up that has stormed up the Bundesliga table in recent weeks on the back of four straight wins.

That means midfield duo Kai Havertz and Julian Brandt will pull the strings in midfield, while Kevin Volland, Leon Bailey and Lucas Alario will lead the attack. Karim Bellarabi, who had been in excellent form of late, misses out due to an injury sustained at the weekend.

LEVERKUSEN'S YEAR?

Leverkusen could book a place in the last-16 tonight and the club have never been beyond that stage of the UEFA Europa League in their history. Is this be the year they go deep in the tournament, or even all the way?

WELCOME!

Hello and welcome to our build-up and live coverage of the UEFA Europa League last-32 second-leg between Bayer Leverkusen and Krasnodar (kick-off 9:00p.m.CET/8:00p.m.GMT/3:00p.m.EST).

CONFIRMED line-ups

Leverkusen: Hradecky – Weiser, Dragovic (Kiese Thelin 86'), Tah, Wendell – Havertz (Baumgartlinger 66'), Aranguiz, Brandt – Alario, Volland (c), Bailey
Subs: Özcan, S. Bender, Paulinho, Jedvaj, Kohr
Out: L. Bender (thigh), Pohjanpalo (ankle), Retsos (thigh),  Bellarabi (thigh)
Coach: Peter Bosz

Krasnodar: Safanov - Petrov, Martynovich (c), Spajic, Ramirez - Olsson (Gazinski '61), Kabore, Pereyra  - Wanderson, Ignatyev (Suleymanov 70'), Claesson (Stotski 77')
Subs: Sinitsin, Fjoluson, Markov, Golubev
Coach: Oleg Fomenko

Latest

Leverkusen enjoyed 67 per cent of possession and had 15 shots on goal in the first leg, yet a valuable away goal proved elusive. The prospect of Havertz, Leon Bailey, Julian Brandt and Kevin Volland firing another blank this week seems unlikely, especially as the former two both found the net at the weekend to extend Bayer's impressive league run to four successive wins and 14 goals scored. Coach Peter Bosz looks set to make one change from the team that beat 2-0 Fortuna Düsseldorf on Sunday, though. Karim Bellarabi picked up an injury, meaning Lucas Alario should come into the side in attack.

Considering Krasnodar hadn't played competitively since mid-December, the Russians did well to come away with a draw in the first leg. With the Russian league campaign still on ice, Oleg Fomenko's have the advantage of a few extra days' rest before travelling to Germany, but there will doubtless be rust around the gears when faced with the Bundesliga's most in-form side - a team that dispatched defending champions Bayern Munich 3-1 little over a fortnight ago no less. Krasnodar's last two away trips in Europe ended in 3-0 and 2-1 defeats to Sevilla and Standard Liege respectively.

Match stats

• Alario is Leverkusen's top scorer in Europe this season with four goals. Havertz is next on the list with three.
• Brandt and Havertz are Bayer's top scorers in 2019 with three goals apiece.
• Bailey has registered three assists in this season's Europa League, and heads into the game with two goals in seven competitive outings in 2019.
• Leverkusen have won eight of the ten UEFA competition ties in which they have posted an away draw in the first leg and four of the five that have finished 0-0
• Bayer have a positive record against Russian clubs in Europe, with four wins, three draws and three defeats.
• Bosz reached the final of the 2016/17 Europa League with Ajax.