# Gouiri's Solo Strike Ends Leverkusen's Perfect Europa League Start Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com) Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/soccer/gouiri-s-solo-strike-ends-leverkusen-s-perfect-europa-league-start-2026-11-07-mo Language: en Published: 2026-11-07T03:01:10.045+00:00 Updated: 2026-11-07T03:01:10.121911+00:00 > Amine Gouiri's 77th-minute solo strike gave Marseille a 1-0 win at Leverkusen. ## TL;DR - Amine Gouiri's 77th-minute solo strike gave Marseille a 1-0 win at Leverkusen. - The goal ended Leverkusen's perfect Europa League start and a 347-minute clean sheet. - Leverkusen had won their first three league-phase matches without conceding. - Marseille earned their first points after three straight defeats in Europe. - Leverkusen stay seventh on nine points; Marseille climb to 31st on three. ## Key points - Amine Gouiri's 77th-minute solo strike gave Marseille a 1-0 win at Leverkusen. - The goal ended Leverkusen's perfect Europa League start and a 347-minute clean sheet. - Leverkusen had won their first three league-phase matches without conceding. - Marseille earned their first points after three straight defeats in Europe. - Leverkusen stay seventh on nine points; Marseille climb to 31st on three. ## A quiet night ignites late For 76 minutes, the UEFA Europa League meeting between Bayer Leverkusen and Olympique Marseille at the BayArena looked destined to drift toward a goalless draw. Chances were scarce, the tempo was cautious, and neither side managed to impose a clear pattern on the other. Then Amine Gouiri collected the ball near the halfway line, ran at a retreating defence, and changed the entire evening with one curling finish. Marseille won 1-0 on Thursday, 5 November 2026, ending Bayer Leverkusen's perfect start to the league phase and recording their own first victory of the campaign. The result was a reminder that European nights are often decided by a single moment of individual quality rather than by sustained dominance. Leverkusen had won each of their first three Europa League matches and had not conceded a goal in the competition before Gouiri struck. Marseille, by contrast, had lost their first three matches and arrived in Germany with nothing to lose. ## Gouiri seizes his moment Gouiri had already warned Leverkusen once. Early in the match he controlled a long pass inside the penalty area, escaped his marker, and forced a save from goalkeeper Mark Flekken. It was the clearest chance of a cagey opening period, and it established the pattern of the night: Marseille's forward was the player most likely to produce something from very little. The first half offered little else in the way of clear openings. Leverkusen gradually gained territory without creating sustained pressure, and their closest moment arrived in the 42nd minute when Miguel Gutierrez saw a deflected effort strike the crossbar. Jarell Quansah then fired narrowly wide before half-time, leaving the match goalless at the break and the home crowd waiting for a breakthrough that never came from their own side. ![File photo of Amine Gouiri in 2017.](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794020451928-cndaio-soccer-inside1-2026-11-07-morning.jpg) Leverkusen resumed with greater attacking intent after the interval, but Patrik Schick sent an effort well over the bar in the 54th minute. Marseille responded through Igor Paixao, whose long-range attempt narrowly missed the target, before Flekken again denied Gouiri. Geoffrey Kondogbia subsequently fired just wide from distance, and the match seemed to be settling into a stalemate defined by half-chances and near misses. The decisive moment arrived in the 77th minute when Leverkusen lost possession near the halfway line. Gouiri advanced into space, cut inside Edmond Tapsoba, and curled a precise shot into the far corner beyond Flekken. It was a solo goal in the truest sense: one player, one run, one finish, and a stadium suddenly silenced. The strike ended a 347-minute clean-sheet run for Leverkusen in the competition and gave Marseille a lead they would not surrender. ## Leverkusen run out of answers Leverkusen nearly equalised immediately, but Tapsoba headed narrowly wide from a corner. The hosts continued to press through several set pieces in the closing minutes, yet they could not find a way through a Marseille defence that grew in confidence with every clearance. The final whistle confirmed a first defeat in Europe this season for the German side, and a first goal conceded in the league phase. The statistics underlined how little separated the teams. Leverkusen accumulated just 0.9 expected goals from their ten shots, with three of those on target, while Marseille had eight attempts with two on target. It was not a match dominated by either side; it was a match decided by the one player who turned a half-opening into a goal. Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes later said the team had lacked quality in a game with few chances, a blunt assessment that matched what the evening had shown. The defeat also ended a ten-match unbeaten run at home in the UEFA Europa League for Leverkusen, a sequence of seven wins and three draws in which they had averaged 2.6 goals per game. ![File photo of Amine Gouiri playing for France U21 against Serbia.](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794020467101-mhf6fp-soccer-inside2-2026-11-07-morning.jpg) ## What the result changes The defeat left Leverkusen seventh in the league-phase standings with nine points from four matches, still well placed for automatic qualification for the last 16 despite the setback. Their perfect record is gone, but their position is not damaged beyond repair, and the trip to Dinamo Zagreb on 26 November offers a swift chance to respond. Marseille, meanwhile, climbed to 31st with three points after recording their first victory, and the win gives them a foundation to build on after three consecutive defeats. Elsewhere on the night, the standings continued to take shape. Benfica maintained their position at the top with a 3-1 victory over Lech Poznan, extending their perfect record to four matches. Bournemouth remained second after beating Sparta Prague 3-1, while third-placed Ferencvaros defeated AC Milan 2-0. Juventus climbed to fifth after beating AZ Alkmaar 2-1, and the results left Milan outside the top 24 with just three points at the halfway stage of the league phase. ## What comes next Marseille host Levski Sofia on 26 November in their next league-phase fixture, a match in which a second successive win would transform their campaign from recovery into genuine contention for the knockout places. Leverkusen visit Dinamo Zagreb the same day, and the German side will expect a sharper attacking display after a night in which their ten shots produced so little danger. The lesson of the evening is a familiar one in European football. A perfect start guarantees nothing, and a winless start condemns nothing, while a single moment remains in play. Gouiri provided that moment at the BayArena, and Marseille left Germany with their first points, their first win, and a result that will be remembered as the night Leverkusen's unbeaten European run came to an end. Mentions: Amine Gouiri, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympique Marseille, BayArena, Mark Flekken, Edmond Tapsoba, Patrik Schick, Igor Paixao, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Miguel Gutierrez, Jarell Quansah, UEFA Europa League, Simon Rolfes, Benfica, Bournemouth, Ferencvaros, AC Milan, Dinamo Zagreb, Levski Sofia, Sparta Prague ## Sources - [iol.co.za](https://iol.co.za/sport/soccer/2026-11-06-europa-league-wrap-marseille-shock-leverkusen-while-celtic-and-getafe-navigate-tense-european-night/) - [channelnewsasia.com](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/milan-stunned-ferencvaros-marseille-and-juventus-secure-europa-league-wins-6529296) - [bundesliga.com](https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/bayer-leverkusen-marseille-live-europa-league-blog-preview-report-maza-quansah-39793) - [soccernews.com](https://www.soccernews.com/leverkusen-lacking-quality-in-first-europa-league-loss/407740/)