Victor Boniface and Jonas Hofmann scored after coming off the bench as Bayer Leverkusen left it late to beat West Ham 2-0 at home on Thursday in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Needing stoppage time winners from Patrick Schick to win both legs of their last 16 tie with Qarabag, Leverkusen were dominant but had failed to break through against the dogged Hammers.
Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso brought on Hofmann and Boniface with 14 minutes remaining, and the move did the trick, the Nigerian linking with the Germany winger for the opener in the 83rd minute.
Boniface then sealed the result in stoppage time, heading in a Hofmann cross for a 2-0 win.
“It’s not luck, it’s for a reason,” Alonso told reporters of his side’s habit of winning late.
“When it was 0-0 you could try and overreact and lose control while trying to score. We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to insist and we wanted to keep going.”
The victory continues what could be a stunning week for Leverkusen, who are 16 points clear of Bayern Munich in Germany and can win their first Bundesliga title by beating Werder Bremen at home on Sunday.
West Ham, who fought hard with little in the way of possession or field position, will need to become the first team to beat Alonso’s side this season to return to the semi-finals.
West Ham coach David Moyes praised his opponents.
“We’re playing a Champions League (level) team tonight — and a good one at that,” said Moyes.
West Ham’s approach mirrored that of their last 16 visit to Freiburg, with Moyes’ men sitting deep away in the hope of deciding things on their own turf, hopefully with injured talisman Jarrod Bowen returning to their ranks.
In addition to overturning a two-goal deficit, West Ham will be short staffed in the return leg even if Bowen does return, with Emerson and Lucas Paqueta set to miss out having picked up yellow cards.
