(Football news) AS Roma earned a hard fought 0-0 draw against Bayer Leverkusen in their Europa League semi final second leg to reach the Europa League final with a 1-0 aggregate win. AS Roma have now reached back-to-back European finals under coach Jose Mourinho after winning the Europa Conference League title last season. Roma were on the backfoot for the entire game and had to survive multiple attacks from the Germans, who subsequently missed a lot of chances and hit the woodwork also.

The Italian capital side will play Sevilla in the final on May 31 in Budapest after they beat Juve 3-2 on aggregate. Leverkusen were looking to reach their first European final in 21 years as the hosts had the upper hand in the entire first half with a dozen chances compared to AS Roma opponents’ one. Moussa Diaby came the closest to opening the scoring when he rattled the crossbar with a powerful shot in the 12th minute and then Kerem Demirbay’s low drive in the 21st minute was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Rui Patricio.

The visitors in the second half tried pushing up a bit higher but the hosts kept finding ways not only to create chances but were defending quite well also. Demirbay was Leverkusen’s best player on the pitch as he forced another good save in the 67th minute from Patricio. The Portugal international thought he was beaten by Sardar Azmoun but the Iranian’s shot just went wide. Leverkusen’s last major trophy was in 1993 and had 23 shots on goal but it was yet again a classic Mourinho’s masterclass where he parked the bus with utmost perfect execution.

“All that was missing was a goal,” said Leverkusen’s Demirbay. “We did not have that bit of luck. It was bitter not to be rewarded for such a performance. But I am proud of the way we played.”

Also read: Sevilla reach their 7th Europa League final after a hard fought victory in ET over Juve