Goals from Hakan Calhanoglu, Admir Mehmedi and Karim Bellarabi ensured that Bayer Leverkusen beat Lazio 3-0 in the second leg of their Champions League qualifying clash to reach the group stages this evening.
Having originally lost the first leg 1-0 to the Italians, the German outfit produced a confident display on home soil to seal a 3-1 aggregate win over Stefano Pioli's men.
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Lazio started the game in a positive fashion and Keita Balde almost put the visitors in front, only for Bernd Leno to recover well to keep out the striker's attempt.
Leverkusen were next in and they might have found a vital leveller, but Karim Bellarabi fired wide of the post.
The home side were more than aware that they needed a goal to get back into the contest, and they almost found it through Calhanoglu, who saw his long-range effort kept out smartly by Etrit Berisha.
Bayer continued to knock on the door and it almost burst open when Calhanoglu crossed into the box, where Stefan Kiessling was left free to head his effort straight onto a post.
With the contest opening up towards the end of the half, Leverkusen almost came unstuck when Keita turned cleverly to fire and force a save from Leno down at his near post.
The German side did, however, manage to get the necessary goal just before the break thanks to Calhanoglu, as he capped off an impressive first half by finishing from a loose ball to make it 1-1 on aggregate.
Roger Schmidt's side made another important breakthrough early in the second period as they moved into a 2-1 lead in the tie, thanks to Mehmedi who collected from Bellarabi's pass to finish into the roof of the net.
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With the wind behind them, Bayer began to dominate and they should have put the tie to bed through Kiessling, but his effort flew wide after he was picked out by a creative Bellarabi.
Any passage back into the game for Lazio was made less likely in the 68th minute, when defender Mauricio was given a second yellow card for bringing down Kiessling, who had troubled the Brazilian all evening.
Knowing that an away goal would still send them through, Lazio sought to push forward with 10 men although they were kept at bay by an industrious Leverkusen side.
Bayern were able to add the finishing touches to a memorable night late on, when Bellarabi showed great composure in the box to leave the final score at 3-0.
Christopher Dodd
