Granit Xhaka put in a record-equalling performance and provided an assist to help Bayer Leverkusen to progress to the Europa League final unbeaten on Thursday night.

LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: Robert Andrich of Bayer Leverkusen celebrates with Granit Xhaka of Bayer Leverkusen after scoring his team's second goal during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and 1. FSV Mainz 05 at BayArena on February 23, 2024. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: Robert Andrich of Bayer Leverkusen celebrates with Granit Xhaka of Bayer Leverkusen after scoring his team’s second goal during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and 1. FSV Mainz 05 at BayArena on February 23, 2024. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka was in action for Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night, playing with two key objectives in mind.

The first was to reach the Europa League final, with Leverkusen having a 2-0 lead over AS Roma from the first leg of their semi-final tie. The second was to avoid defeat, extending the German team’s unbeaten run in all competitions to 49 games.

It wasn’t Leverkusen’s best night overall, with Roma taking a 2-0 lead thanks to a couple of Leandro Paredes penalties. Yet Xhaka shone as his side found a way back into the game.

LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: Granit Xhaka, Jonas Hofmann and Josip Stanisic of Bayer Leverkusen celebrate following the team's victory during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern München at BayArena on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Leon Kuegeler/Getty Images)
LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: Granit Xhaka, Jonas Hofmann and Josip Stanisic of Bayer Leverkusen celebrate following the team’s victory during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern München at BayArena on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Leon Kuegeler/Getty Images)

Over the course of the 90 minutes, Xhaka created 10 chances, equalling a Europa League record set by Juan Mata in 2010 for the most in a single game.

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Xhaka completed 90 of 98 attempted passes, including eight of nine long balls, and he won six of eight individual duels.

It was a big performance from the Swiss international, and he was ultimately rewarded with a 97th-minute assist to equalise for 2-2.

Gianluca Mancini’s 82nd-minute own goal put Leverkusen back in the lead on aggregate, but Xhaka’s late assist for Josip Stanisic ensured his team also remain unbeaten.

You can watch the highlights here, with Xhaka’s assist at the timestamp 6:17.

LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: Granit Xhaka, Xabi Alonso and Brian the Lion celebrate following the team's victory during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern München at BayArena on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: Granit Xhaka, Xabi Alonso and Brian the Lion celebrate following the team’s victory during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern München at BayArena on February 10, 2024. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Leverkusen’s 49-game unbeaten run is the longest ever by a team involved in European competition, surpassing Benfica’s 48-game run from 1963-65.

Celtic (62 games, 1915-17) and Union SG (60 games, 1933-35) both had longer unbeaten runs, but neither were playing any fixtures outside of their domestic league campaigns.

Leverkusen have four games remaining if they want to make history by completing the entire campaign unbeaten in all three competitions.

First, they’ll face VfL Bochum and Augsburg on May 12th and 18th, attempting to make it an entire Bundesliga campaign unbeaten.

They’ll follow that up with Atalanta on May 22nd in the Europa League final, followed by 1. FCK in the German Cup final on May 25th.

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