Kampl, Çalhanoğlu on Leverkusen's near-miss

As has been the case throughout their UEFA Champions League campaign, Bayer Leverkusen were left to rue what might have been against Barcelona.

The Bundesliga outfit had to beat the Group E winners to stand any chance of reaching the round of 16 for a third successive season; Javier Hernández struck midway through the first half to cancel out Lionel Messi's opener but, despite sustained pressure, Leverkusen could only manage a 1-1 draw.

To rub salt into Werkself wounds, Roma's 0-0 draw with BATE Borisov meant that one more goal would have sealed Leverkusen's place in the last 16. It was not to be, however, as a combination of wayward finishing and a man-of-the-match performance from Barcelona's German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen consigned the hosts to third place in the group and the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

"It's obviously very disappointing that we didn't manage to get the second goal," said Hakan Çalhanoğlu. "We were missing that little bit of luck, but we deserve credit for our performance. We had a lot of chances in the second half which we should have made more of."

Çalhanoğlu himself missed a great chance shortly after half-time, while Karim Bellarabi was denied on more than one occasion by the excellent Ter Stegen, who capped a majestic second-half display with a superb near-post save from Hernández in the closing moments.

"We only found out after the game that Roma had drawn 0-0," lamented Kevin Kampl. "We had several great opportunities. If we had taken them, we'd be in the last 16. It's extremely disappointing, but we're happy with the Europa League and we showed today that this squad has outstanding potential."

Leverkusen have tapped into that potential sporadically throughout the group campaign, at times playing some exhilarating football but all-too often coming up short – most notably in their two matches against Roma, which ended in a 4-4 home draw and a 3-2 away defeat.

"It's easy to think about the points you left behind and which games you might have won," added Kampl. "We were 2-0 up at home to Roma and had a good chance to win the return fixture. The same goes for our match in Borisov, which ended 1-1. It's easy to wonder what might have been."

The reality for Leverkusen, though, is a place in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League, the draw for which takes place on Monday. With the likes of Manchester United and Porto also in the hat, Çalhanoğlu is relishing the prospect of taking on UEFA Champions League-calibre opposition in the tournament's latter stages.

"It's not as if we go away empty-handed," he explained. "There are a couple of very, very strong teams in the Europa League and we're looking forward to playing against some of those big sides. We want to give our all in that competition, too."