leverkusen fall just short against barcelona published: wednesday 9 december 2015, 22.58cet leverkusen 1-1 barcelona german keeper marc-andré ter stegen came back to haunt his compatriots as leverkusen missed out on the last 16 by a slender margin. by matthew howarth from bayarena
leverkusen edged out by roma on head-to-head record germany keeper marc-andré ter stegen makes nine saves for visitors lionel messi reaches double figures for barça this season with first-half opener round of 16 draw takes place at 12.00cet on monday leverkusen switch to uefa europa league
bayer leverkusen will compete in the uefa europa league in the new year after being held to a 1-1 group e draw by a youthful barcelona side at the bayarena.
needing a win to have a realistic possibility of reaching the uefa champions league knockout stage, the hosts took the game to their already qualified visitors from the get-go. apart from hakan çalhanoğlu's 12th-minute free-kick, however, goalscoring opportunities were at a premium in the opening exchanges.
lionel messi, one of only three barcelona players to keep his place in the starting xı, sparked a flurry of action after 20 minutes, latching onto ıvan rakitić's through ball before rounding bernd leno and tapping his team in front.
the lead lasted three minutes. admir mehmedi was given time and space to pick out javier hernández, who lashed into the top corner his 12th goal in 11 outings for the werkself. messi very nearly restored barcelona's advantage moments later, but failed to hit the target.
apart from collecting the ball from his net following hernández's equaliser, marc-andré ter stegen had precious little to do in the first half. the german international was kept busy after the restart, though, saving well from karim bellarabi after çalhanoğlu had fired wide from a promising position.
as the leverkusen chances dried up, roger schmidt brought on julian brandt and stefan kiessling in an attempt to inject fresh ideas into his side's attack. kiessling arrowed an effort straight at ter stegen, who did well to smother the striker's shot at the first attempt.
the 23-year-old custodian saved his best for last, denying hernández at the near post in the last minute of normal time to earn his team a share of the spoils. bayer, meanwhile, drop into the uefa europa league after finishing third behind roma on head-to-head record.
key player: marc-andré ter stegen the former mönchengladbach glovesman had a quiet first period, yet produced a string of fine saves after the interval to keep the score at 1-1 and condemn the bundesliga outfit to third in group e.
so near yet so far though schmidt's charges have delivered some exhilarating football in the group, the werkself have fallen short when it really mattered, collecting just two points from their fixtures against barcelona and roma.
messi back to his best? he missed two months of the season through injury but, judging by his display at the bayarena, it was hard to tell the argentinian had ever been away. his goal was expertly-taken and his touch sublime, particularly in the first half.
reaction roger schmidt, leverkusen coach that is a drama. ı'm shocked that we didn't manage to win this game. the fact that bate drew in rome makes it a tragedy for us.
luis enrique, barcelona coach ı felt positive about our performance. ı wanted to give the players who have played the most minutes a rest and ı saw good signs from us against a team that really had to win. the match was a litmus test for us. ın the last 16 we'll face whoever we're lucky enough to be drawn with.
