Bayer Leverkusen sealed their passage into the UEFA Champions League group stages once again, thanks to a 3-1 aggregate win over Lazio.

Roger Schmidt's side maintained their 100% start to domestic action with victory over Hannover 96 but this game carried much more importance. They were to switch just one player from the defeat at the Stadio Olimpico last week and it was Admir Mehmedi, who took the place of the reportedly Tottenham Hotspur bound, Heung-Min Son.

Despite the controversial circumstances surrounding their win in Rome, Stefano Pioli would still have been pleased to come out on top. He did make two changes from the side that triumphed last week, however. Stefan Radu and Keita Baldé Diao - the man who grabbed the crucial goal in the first leg - came in for the injured pair of Lucas Biglia and Miroslav Klose.

Exciting and entertaining opening

There was almost an early disaster at the back for the home side and young Jonathan Tah was able to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of it. He mistimed a clearance straight to Felipe Anderson but Bernd Leno bailed him out at the crucial moment. Karim Bellarabi had the first chance of note for Leverkusen and his cross-cum-shot flew just wide of Etrit Berisha's left-hand post.

Hakan Calhanoglu almost caught the Lazio stopper cold just a few minutes later, unleashing a rasping drive from 25 yards. Berisha could only hope it didn't find the top corner, and much to his delight it went narrowly over the bar. Speculative efforts seemed to be the order of the day at the BayArena and Dusan Basta's wicked volley almost looped over Leno.

The hosts were beginning to turn the screw, despite Lazio two forays forward, and Calhanoglu was central to that. The Turk moved inside and beat two defenders before driving the ball towards goal. A tough save was made even more difficult by a deflection off Mauricio's back, though Berisha was able to twist his body and parry to safety.

Leverkusen's dominance finally begins to pay off

Pioli's men had been rattled and the Westfalen side were soon to rattle the woodwork. A quickly taken corner wasn't shut down by the Italians and Leverkusen worked the ball out to Bellarabi, who brilliantly picked out Stefan Kießling. The experienced forward timed his leap perfectly but say his header come back off the post-bar-joint.

Keita then had a shot tipped expertly behind by an alert Leno at his near post, though the Spaniard felt he had been tugged back by Tah and some of the Lazio players felt he had even handled the ball.

Their misery was only made worse when Leverkusen's luck was in to go ahead. Bellarabi initially slipped in behind the defence and found Kießling, as he cut back towards the former. The ball then cannoned off Bellarabi, Stefan de Vrij and another unsuspecting body before landing at the feet of Calhanoglu. He gleefully took the chance and lifted the ball over the committed Berisha to level the tie just before half-time.

Second half starts with Mehmedi magic

After the break, the Leverkusen siege continued and it took them a mere three minutes to go ahead. Bellarabi was once again involved in the build-up, playing an incisive pass through to Mehmedi. The Swiss striker shrugged off the attentions of Mauricio and thundered a finish into the roof of the net, as Lazio's decision to play three at-the-back began to look more questionable with each passing minute.

Mehmedi and Lars Bender both went close to extending the lead, as the latter struck a rasping effort that needed pushing over by Berisha. Ricardo Kishna was then called upon by Pioli, replacing Stefan Radu, as Lazio went to a more conventional formation. That seemed to helped stem the tide but the hosts still had the upper hand.

Mauricio made a crucial intervention just after the half to take Mehmedi's effort wide of the post, as he sought to make amends for his earlier error. But just as he looked to be steadying the ship with his team, he was sent off for a second bookable offence. He tripped up Kießling on his way through to goal and Carlos Velasco Carballo gave him his marching orders. 

The visitors were becoming more and more frustrated, and the game saw five bookings in a feisty fifteen minute spell. Calhanoglu was eventually replaced by Robbie Kruse, and the Turk was treated by the medical team as soon as he reached the bench - a major worry for Schmidt ahead of the visit of Bayern Munich.

That was for another day, however, as Leverkusen played down the clock professionally with any major scares at their end. There was even time for a late third to crown the day, as Julian Brandt unselfishly squared for the troublesome Bellarabi to tap home a deserved goal. They will now join Europe's elite in Thursday's group stage draw, while Lazio have to wait until Friday to hear who they'll face in the Europa League.