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Xhaka called London home for seven years during his time at Arsenal and said he had a “great time here”. Now the Switzerland international returns for the first time with Bayer 04 and is preparing for an encounter at the London Stadium, where the 31-year-old experienced a number of exciting match-ups. “There are regularly over 60,000 people in the stadium. Same again tomorrow. And they definitely won’t be there for us. But we come here with great confidence from the first leg and want to progress. That’s clear,” he said.
When asked, the midfielder didn’t want the weekend’s title celebrations to be an excuse for Thursday. “Obviously we celebrated a little, but within reason. We have a big task ahead of us again tomorrow. We want to reach the semi-finals. We’re very hungry.”
Coach Alonso is expecting a “hard game. West Ham showed Freiburg that they can overcome a first-leg defeat.” The Hammers had lost 1-0 in Germany in their round of 16 tie but then progressed thanks to a 5-0 win back at home. “We’ll play our game and definitely won’t just defend. That’s not our way,” he added.
The Spaniard firmly believes that the Werkself will again perform well in this second leg: “The players give me no doubt about believing in them. Their concentration, focus and hunger are special.”
The Werkself can count on the support of over 3,000 travelling fans from Leverkusen for a sold-out away section at the London Stadium.
One person who isn’t in the UK capital is Borja Iglesias. “He’s got muscular problems. We need to wait and see how things are with him in the coming days. It could well be that he also misses Dortmund. We need to see with him and Adam Hlozek whether they’ll be ready for the Stuttgart game,” explained Alonso, who otherwise has a full squad at his disposal. And they are all ready, as the coach explained, since “we want to take our big chance in the Europa League as well.”
A training course for external coaches covering age groups U8 to U13 on 'Effective coaching in junior football' was held at the BayArena this week. The course, with this initial event ahead of a series of training units, was aimed at coaches and sporting management of clubs in the area of Leverkusen. It was very well received.
Show moreTo gain access to the stadium as a member of the media on Werkself home matchdays you need accreditation from Bayer 04. From now, you can submit the application for accreditation exclusively via our online registration form at bayer04.de.
Show moreBayer 04 are away to Bayern Munich in the Round of 16 of the 2024/25 DFB Pokal. The match is on Tuesday, 3 December (kick-off: 20.45 CET) at the Allianz Arena. Here is the ticket information.
Show moreThe Bayer 04 delegation, led by sporting managing director Simon Rolfes, landed in São Paulo on Tuesday, 12 November. Of course, safe and sound in their luggage: the Meisterschale, the DFB Pokal trophy and the 2024 Supercup. The group had a number of events in the vibrant city with a population of 12 million.
Show moreIn keeping with the Trophy Tour in Brazil starting today, Bayer04.de looks back at the long-standing link between the Werkself and Brazilian players. The list is long as well as impressive. 24 Brazilian players have worn the Bayer 04 Leverkusen jersey from 1987 to the present day. Tita was the first under the Bayer Cross having come to Germany after ten years at top Brazilian clubs Vasco da Gama, Flamengo Rio de Janeiro and Gremio Porto Alegre. He played a crucial part in the Werkself winning their first major trophy in that season: the UEFA Cup in 1988.
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