Soccer-Leverkusen earn 2-0 victory at Roma in semis first leg

Soccer Football - Europa League - Semi Final - First Leg - AS Roma v Bayer Leverkusen - Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy - May 2, 2024 Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz celebrates scoring their first goal with Granit Xhaka REUTERS/Alberto Lingria

ROME (Reuters) -Goals by Florian Wirtz and Robert Andrich gave Bayer Leverkusen a 2-0 advantage over AS Roma in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday as the German champions edged closer to their first European final in 22 years.

The newly-crowned Bundesliga winners and German Cup finalists, who recently overtook Juventus to claim the European record for the longest unbeaten streak across all competitions, lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in the 2002 Champions League final.