Bundesliga soccer team Bayer Leverkusen can book their ticket to the round of 16 in the Europa League on matchday 4. Xabi Alonso’s team will play at Qarabag Agdam on Thursday.
If the frontrunner of the football-Bundesliga against second-placed Azerbaijani Premyer Liqası, you don’t have to haggle for long to be the favorite. Although the Azerbaijanis are breathing down Bayer’s neck with six points, Leverkusen are the clear favorites. They have already won the first leg 5-1, with Florian Wirtz and double goalscorer Alejandro Grimaldo particularly shining.
Longest European Cup trip Club history
Coach Xabi Alonso left it open whether the two would be in the starting line-up on Thursday after the longest European Cup trip in the club’s history – almost 3,500 kilometers as the crow flies from arena to arena. Both recently earned top marks again in the 3-2 win at Hoffenheim, but Alonso emphasized on Wednesday before departure that it was completely normal to rotate when you have a game every three days.
Since Leverkusen’s declared goal is to reach the round of 16 in Azerbaijan early, it will be difficult for Alonso to do without his in-form players. However, he has to involuntarily do without regular central defender Edmond Tapsoba, who is undergoing surgery on his hand.
We decided it was the right time to do the surgery.
Bayer coach Xabi Alonso on the loss of Edmond Tapsoba
Tapsoba was injured in the 5-2 win in the second round of the DFB Cup at SV Sandhausen. Last Saturday he played in the 3-2 win in Hoffenheim with a specially made splint. The 24-year-old is now undergoing surgery on his left hand and will therefore be out of the upcoming Bundesliga game against 1. FC Union Berlin.
In addition to Tapsoba’s position, Alonso changes in goal as usual, where cup keeper Matej Kovar takes Lukas Hradecky’s place. The 23-year-old is happy to have this opportunity: “This competition means a lot to us.” Kovar says that he and Hradecky try to push each other every day. The team benefits from this competition.
Xhaka: Team wants to achieve “big things”.
Granit Xhaka suggests that Leverkusen are not satisfied with snapshots at the top of the table. The team wants “big things,” said Bayer’s midfielder in the “Sports-Bild”. This should apply equally to the Bundesliga and the Europa League.
I am convinced that our young team is hungry to achieve great things.
Bayer midfielder Granit Xhaka in “Sport-Bild”
The good thing for Bayer is that, as leaders, things can be regulated from above: “We have to win our games, then all the other teams can do what they want,” said Xhaka. Alonso is making sure that they don’t take off after 15 competitive games without defeat: “It’s not so easy to stay on the ground when you constantly hear how good you are. The coach makes sure that we classify everything correctly.”
