ANKARA

German Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen beat Italian Serie A side AS Roma 2-0 in the UEFA Europa League semifinal first leg on Thursday.

A few moments after Roma's Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku's header rebounded off the post, German midfielder Florian Wirtz's good effort to the far post made it 1-0 for Leverkusen in the 28th minute.

Leverkusen's German midfielder Robert Andrich netted the second goal of his team with a good shot to the top corner of the goal in the 73rd minute.

The German side got an advantage in the first leg of the round at away.

The second leg will be held at BayArena next Thursday.

Europa League semifinal first leg results:

Olympique Marseille - Atalanta : 1-1

AS Roma - Bayer Leverkusen : 0-2