Patrik Schick scored twice in second-half stoppage time to lead Bayer Leverkusen to an improbable 3-2 win over Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday.
The win was massive for the Bundesliga leaders on two fronts: extending their unbeaten record this season to 37 matches and booking a spot in the Europa League quarterfinals with a 5-4 aggregate victory.
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Trailing the Azerbaijan side 2-0 for the second week in a row after last Thursday’s first leg, Leverkusen scored three times — including the late goals from Schick — to win the game and the tie on aggregate.
Schick was also the hero in the first leg, scoring a late goal to earn his team a 2-2 draw in the first leg as Xabi Alonso’s side remained without a loss in the 2023-24 campaign.
Leverkusen beat Freiburg 2-0 over the weekend to extend the streak to 36, then made it 37 with another improbable late comeback against Qarabag on Thursday.
The Europa League draw is on Friday, with Leverkusen joining Liverpool, West Ham United, AC Milan, AS Roma, Benfica, Atalanta and Marseille in the last-8.
Alonso’s Bundesliga front-runners, who have never won the domestic league, are 10 points ahead of Bayern Munich in the table and have reached the semifinals of the DFB Pokal.
With 32 wins on the season, Leverkusen are three away from tying their club record total for victories in a single season and already hold the German record for the longest unbeaten streak, eclipsing the streak of 32 by Bayern in February.
They also have the third-longest unbeaten run in the history of Europe’s top-five leagues, trailing only the 2004-05 Inter Milan team, 38, and record-holders Juventus, who went 42 games without losing in the 2011-12 season.