Bayer Leverkusen secure knockout-stage play-offs spot
The German outfit defeated Villareal 3-0 on the final league phase matchday
Malik Tilman scored a brace; Alejandro Grimaldo scored a single goal
Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Villarreal, UEFA Champions League 2025-26: Malik Tilman's Brace Sends Die Werkself To Play-Offs
Kasper Hjulmand's side delivered an emphatic performance at BayArena, setting up a meeting with either Borussia Dortmund or Olympiacos, where the victors will reach the last 16
Summary
Bayer Leverkusen confirmed their place in the Champions League's knockout-stage play-offs after dismantling Villarreal in a 3-0 win on Wednesday.
Kasper Hjulmand's side delivered an emphatic performance at BayArena, setting up a meeting with either Borussia Dortmund or Olympiacos, where the victors will reach the last 16.
A needless Arnau Tenas error handed Leverkusen their 12th-minute lead when the goalkeeper stalled too long over a clearance, with Malik Tillman charging him down to deflect the ball into an empty net.
Tenas was then fortunate not to turn into his own net when Ibrahim Maza's long-range drive cannoned against the woodwork and bounced off the goalkeeper's back, as he managed to scrape it away from the goal line.
But Tenas was left powerless 10 minutes before half-time, when Patrik Schick headed down Alejandro Grimaldo's cross for Tilman to thunder a half-volley into the bottom-right corner for his second goal.
Matters worsened for an insipid Villarreal team, who were already eliminated, in the 57th minute as Grimaldo met Lucas Vazquez's right-sided cross and thundered a volley under Tenas to round off the scoring.
Data Debrief: Villarreal Hit Spanish Nadir
A one-sided contest saw Leverkusen claim three deserved points, as the hosts accumulated 2.03 expected goals (xG) to Villarreal's meagre 0.25.
Villarreal's drab campaign also saw them become the only Spanish team to play as many as eight games (D1 L7) in a European Cup/Champions League campaign and not win any of them.
They have lost six consecutive games in the competition, equalling their longest losing streak in major European competitions (also six defeats in a row in the 2011-12 Champions League).
And Hjulmand will feel indebted to Tillman, who scored his second brace in the Champions League (also for PSV last season, against Shakhtar Donetsk), with no other player from the United States scoring multiple goals even once in the competition.
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