West Ham were penetrated by two late objectives as they slipped to a 2-0 loss in the principal leg of their Europa Association quarter-last at Bayer Leverkusen.
The Sledges had shielded chivalrously for 83 minutes before goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was at long last beaten by substitute Jonas Hoffman.
A one-objective shortfall could have given David Moyes’ side expectation going into the following week’s second leg at the London Arena, regardless of confronting a side unbeaten throughout the season.
In any case, everything went south for in stoppage time when a subsequent substitute, Victor Boniface, headed home Hofmann’s cross, to leave West Ham’s expectations of a third successive European semi-last looking terribly thin.
A yellow card for Lucas Paqueta, administering the Brazil worldwide out of the subsequent leg, just adds to the undertaking confronting the east Londoners.
The Sledges, without harmed top scorer Jarrod Bowen and guarded midfield key part Edson Alvarez through suspension, were practically scattered in the seventh moment when Josip Stanisic’s delinquent shot was flicked towards objective by Patrik Schick however the ball went directly to Fabianski.
In any case, Leverkusen were given an admonition of West Ham’s ability on the counter-assault minutes some other time when Michail Antonio exceeded Jonathan Tah on the left wing and created the most obvious opportunity with regards to the primary half.
The stout frontman squared the ball to Mohammed Kudus, however the Ghana winger’s first-time strike was serenely held by Matej Kovar.
Notwithstanding, West Ham were generally set up camp in their own punishment region and Fabianski palmed away Jeremie Frimpong’s curling iron before Exequiel Palacios’ drive was diverted over.
Paqueta’s over-excited challenge on Amine Adli procured him his booking – the Brazilian endure a red card check – and incited a gentle engagement on the touchline.
Fabianski could have thought he was in for a bustling night and he was demonstrated right, putting forth huge recoveries to keep out risky attempts from Alejandro Grimaldo, Shick and Edmond Tapsoba.
From the get-go in the last part Emerson Palmieri was shown a yellow card in the wake of getting Adli on the lower leg, meaning the left-back will likewise pass on the following week’s bring leg back.
Frimpong, a previous Manchester City youth, hit a low calculated drive directly at Fabianski, before the 38-year-old Post made a staggering recovery to spill Shick’s instinctual header the crossbar.
Be that as it may, with seven minutes remaining Fabianski was frail to forestall Hoffman’s shot skipping through an ocean of white shirts and into the net after a corner was just half-cleared.
Tomas Soucek cleared two Tah endeavors off the line in a frantic finale before Boniface headed the second to leave the Mallets crushed.
