Frimpong seals passage into final four for Leverkusen

FINAL FOUR: Champions of Germany Bayer Leverkusen inflicted more misery on the English by seeing off West Ham, whose fans half-mockingly call themselves Champions of Europe after winning UEFA's most junior tournament last season.  Pic: David Inderlied/dpa via AP

WEST HAM UNITED 1 (Antonio 13) 

BAYER LEVERKUSEN 1 (Frimpong 89) 

Leverkusen win 3-1 on aggregate 

Champions of Germany Bayer Leverkusen inflicted more misery on the English by seeing off West Ham, whose fans half-mockingly call themselves Champions of Europe after winning UEFA's most junior tournament last season.

Trailing 2-0 from last week's first leg in Germany, the Hammers were given hope when Michail Antonio scored in the 13th minute to make it 2-1 on aggregate. But David Moyes' men could not find another way past the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions, for whom substitute Jeremie Frimpong scored a late equaliser to make it 3-1 on aggregate.

Xabi Alonso and his players celebrated with their fans at the end of a stirring night at the London stadium, one in which an upset had looked possible during the first 45 minutes, when West Ham were by some margin the better side.

The one crumb of comfort they hung on to before kick-off was that Leverkusen would still be hungover from their weekend celebrations. Alonso had switched his personnel but it backfired in the first half as West Ham went after them ferociously and reduced the deficit inside 13 minutes.

Odilon Kossounou was having a shocker, getting booked in the fifth minute for fouling James Ward-Prowse after miscontrolling the ball, and then playing a big part in Antonio's opening goal. The big Ivorian defender played a sloppy pass forward that was cut out by Edson Alvarez, who swept to Jarrod Bowen on the right. The England forward exchanged passes with Vladimir Coufal before curling in a cross from the right that allowed Antonio to get in front of Kossounou and power a header into the net. Home supporters erupted in delight, while Alonso remonstrated with his players from the touchline, particularly goalkeeper Matej Kovar, who twice risked losing possession to Ward-Prowse as he dallied with the ball at his feet.

The keeper made one low save from a Mohammed Kudus shot after Kossounou lost possession again, and then got lucky when Bowen clipped a far post volley against his feet from close range, as West Ham pushed to level the tie on aggregate.

Alvarez fired a shot over the bar, Bowen looked dangerous, and Kudus kept running at Leverkusen's defenders to great effect. Alonso hooked Kossounou on the half-hour mark, shortly before a melee erupted on the touchlines followed quickly by another one on the pitch.

It continued to be one-way traffic as the Germans struggled to make headway against the Hammers, even with Granit Xhaka using all his experience in a bid to restore composure.

Antonio got in the way of an Alvarez shot before half-time, and the follow-up effort from Coufal was too weak to trouble Kovar.

Alonso made changes at half-time, not surprisingly, sending on Victor Boniface and Frimpong, who had made such an impact off the bench in the first leg, and Leverkusen were better after the break. Florian Wirtz, the latest German wunderkind, should have equalised five minutes into the second-half but sent his half-volley high and wide.

Bowen then hustled Piero Hincapie off the ball by the right byline, but failed to see three team-mates arriving in the penalty area as he fizzed a low cross in front of them.

Lukasz Fabianski, on his 39th birthday, did not have a save to make until the 65th minute when Frimpong fired in a cross towards the near post, which the Polish keeper flapped away.

And the former Celtic winger should have made it level on the night in the 83rd minute when he ran from the halfway line with just Fabianski to beat but lifted his shot high over the bar. But the Dutch winger made amends in the final minute or normal time as he cut in from the right and curled a shot that took a big deflection off the back of Aaron Cresswell before flying past the wrong-footed Fabianski.

Leverkusen's small but noisy band of fans, uniformly dressed in red, could finally start to celebrate for the second time in five days, while West Ham's unhappy fans started to file out before the final whistle, no longer self-proclaimed 'Champions of Europe.'

West Ham (4-3-3): Fabianski; Coufal 6 (Johnson 87), Zouma, Aguerd 7 (Ogbonna 45), Cresswell 6; Ward-Prowse 6, Alvarez 6 (Cornet 87), Soucek 6; Bowen 7, Antonio 7, Kudus 7 

Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1): Kovar 6; Stanisic 6, Kossounou 4 (Tapsoba 29), Tah 7, Hincapie 6; Xhaka 7, Palacios 6; Tella 6 (Frimpong 46),Wirtz 6, Grimaldo 6 (Adli 68); Schick 5 (Boniface 46) 

Ref: Jose Maria Sanchez (Spain) 5/10