Alejandro Grimaldo’s 88th-minute equaliser secured a 2-2 draw for Bayer Leverkusen against Newcastle United in a dramatic Champions League group stage clash
ALEJANDRO GRIMALDO scored an 88th-minute equaliser as Bayer Leverkusen snatched a 2-2 draw at home to Newcastle United in the Champions League on Wednesday.
That goal denied Newcastle a place in the top eight positions which qualify directly for the last 16.
With two matches left, Newcastle are two points behind the top eight and a point ahead of Leverkusen, with both currently heading for the play-offs.
Newcastle goalscorer Anthony Gordon said his side’s performance “all comes back to mentality”.
“We’ve got to be stronger, we’ve got to hold teams off in games, because top teams do,” Gordon told TNT Sports.
“Ultimately it’s consistency. We need to be a consistent team in every phase of the game.”
Leverkusen led through a Bruno Guimaraes own goal before Gordon levelled from the spot after a goalkeeping error from Mark Flekken early in the second half.
Newcastle took the lead when Gordon set up Lewis Miley.
Grimaldo, Leverkusen’s standout player this season with nine goals and five assists in 19 matches, had the last word.
Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich told DAZN his team played well for long stretches, especially in the first half.
“You could tell from around the 65th minute we were running out of steam, but I’m still happy and I think we deserved the point,” Andrich said.
Newcastle host PSV Eindhoven before a trip to reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in their final two matches.
Leverkusen face Olympiacos and Villarreal, who both languish near the bottom of the 36-team table.
The hosts were hit with news half an hour before kick-off that coach Kasper Hjulmand would miss the match due to personal reasons.
His team took the lead in simple fashion after 13 minutes.
Aleix Garcia lofted in a corner to captain Andrich at the far post where his off-target header cannoned off Guimaraes’s back and bounced into the net.
Leverkusen were on top at the break but brought Newcastle back into the match with a poor goalkeeping error early in the second period.
Nick Woltemade pressured Flekken into a poor mistake, with the Leverkusen goalkeeper pulling the Newcastle frontman down in the box.
Gordon nervelessly converted the spot kick and almost had another goal minutes later, hitting the inside of the post.
The England winger helped Newcastle take the lead with 74 minutes gone, curling a cross to Miley who leapt to head home.
Newcastle sat back after scoring, allowing Leverkusen to build pressure.
Grimaldo duly obliged with two minutes remaining, latching onto an Ibrahim Maza pass and blasting past Aaron Ramsdale. – AFP
