Before the Champions League duel
Curious glitch delays Leverkusen’s journey to Manchester
November 24th, 2025 – 7:15 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Bayer Leverkusen’s away trip to Manchester got off to a very bad start. Two breakdowns delayed the departure.
The plane with the Bundesliga team’s team on board was already ready to take off and was on the tarmac – but then it went back to the gate. The reason: According to an announcement on the plane, there was uncertainty as to whether all of the luggage had been loaded. The background was a discrepancy in the weight of the machine.
After the problem was solved, the departure was delayed again – this time there was no tug to move the aircraft out of the parking position. Instead of taking off at 4 p.m. as planned, the plane took off more than 90 minutes late.
The schedule in Manchester was also thrown into disarray as a result. The press conference with coach Kasper Hjulmand and Aleix García, scheduled for 6 p.m. local time in Manchester, could not take place as planned.
On Tuesday evening (9 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online), Leverkusen will play against Pep Guardiola’s still unbeaten team on the fifth matchday of the league phase.