Ten minutes to go for normal time to end, the scoreline at BayArena read AS Roma 2 Bayer Leverkusen 0.

Commentators were wondering whether finally the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions will taste defeat. Social media was flooded with posts along the same lines.

It’s becoming too repetitive these days. Every time Leverkusen trail, the discussion starts if this will be manager Xabi Alonso’s first loss since August 2023.

And like it has been so many times this season, Leverkusen managed to find a way on Thursday too in the second-leg semi-final of the Europa League.

Two-one when Roma defender Gianluca Mancini put through his own goal. The aggregate score was 3-2 in favour of the hosts and coach Alonso from the sidelines and senior pro Granit Xhaka on the pitch were asking the players not to lose their heads. But then late comebacks are par for the course for Leverkusen.

Such is their confidence and attitude, that the players knew the equaliser would come. And it came, seven minutes into injury time, with substitute Josip Stanisic pulling the hosts level.

Fortynine games unbeaten in all competitions, a record in Europe. Leverkusen are through to the final on May 22 in Dublin where they face another Serie A side Atalanta, who zoomed past Marseille 3-0 (4-1 aggregate).

The league title in the pocket, Leverkusen have another final to play, the German Cup title decider against FC Kaiserslautern on May 25. A treble-winning season is very much on the cards. “We’ll play two finals in a week as a result,” Alonso said. “We still have the chance to win three titles.”

Leverkusen are third overall after Scottish club Celtic (62 games, 1915-17), and Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise (60, 1933-35) in the unbeaten record list.

But since European tournaments began in the 1950s, the 49-game streak is a record. Leverkusen bettered Portuguese club Benfica’s mark of 48 matches between 1963
and 65.

Of the 49 games Leverkusen have not lost (since August 2023), they drew just nine, scoring 136 goals and conceding just 36. To think of it, Thursday’s comeback draw was their 11th game-tying or lead-taking goal in second-half stoppage time.

Yes, 11 times this season they have come back from the brink. For example the Bundesliga game at Borussia Dortmund. Trailing till seven minutes of injury time, the same Stanisic made it 1-1. The draw took them beyond Italian giants Juventus who till then had the record of 44 matches unbeaten in any of the five top leagues of Europe.

Last month former Germany and Leverkusen player Thomas Brdaric, during a chat with The Telegraph, had spoken of the amazing physicality of this side.

“For 90-minute plus they can play at the same speed,” Brdaric, who was a vital cog in the Leverkusen wheel in 2001-02 when the treble-chasing team failed to win even one trophy, had gushed. On Thursday, in the injury time, Roma players were struggling to keep pace with their rivals who were lightning fast on the break.

Another thing that Alonso has done is there is no extravagance about this side. Not a single player would do something outlandish on the field. Even when trailing, they keep faith in their abilities, going forward, dropping back.

The 42-year-old Alonso, who took over the reins in October 2022, when Leverkusen made a floundering start to the 2022-23 season, has transformed this side into a champion team.

They ended Bayern Munich’s stranglehold over the Bundesliga title on April 14, Leverkusen’s first in their 119-year history and, before that, Alonso announced he would be at the helm in the next season also.

That ended speculations about his move to Anfield where Liverpool were looking for outgoing manager Juergen Klopp’s replacement.

The biggest challenge for Alonso will be the Champions League next season. That will give the idea of where exactly this Leverkusen stands. Playing against the elites of Europe, Alonso will be under the scanner.

After the 2002 ‘triple’ heartbreak, Leverkusen somehow never managed to recover.

This time, once taunted as “Never-kusen”, Alonso’s side are rewriting records. Treble will be an apt way to finish the season.