Former Bundesliga professional Stanislav Tschertschessow sees his club Ferencvaros Budapest in the round of 16 of the Europa League against Bayer Leverkusen as an outsider. When asked what he had to say about the statement made by his predecessor Peter Stöger, who rated Bayer as a favourite, the long-time Russian national coach said: “He’s right. But that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Much changed” since last year
Tschertschessow had been in goal for Dynamo Dresden in the Bundesliga from 1993 to 1995 and gave the press conference on the eve of the first leg (Thursday, 6.45 p.m. / RTL) in Leverkusen in German. Stöger had already played with the Hungarian champions against Bayer last year and won 1-0 at home after a 2-1 draw in the BayArena.
“If the Hungarian champions play against Leverkusen, you can rule out that the Hungarian champions are the favourites,” the long-time Bundesliga coach had now told the German Press Agency. Tschertschessow also believes that he can draw little from last year’s victory: “What happened last year is history,” he said: “A lot has changed since then.”
Midfielder Laïdouni is missing
Tschertschessow, whose son was born in Dresden and is also a professional goalkeeper, played once against the German national team in Russia in 2018 (0:3), but in almost 20 years as a coach he has never played against a German club. “Eventually everything happens for the first time,” he said. “I think we’ll really start with it on Thursday. And maybe then we’ll play each other every year.”
Coach midfielder Aïssa Laïdouni, who switched to Bundesliga club Union Berlin in winter, is missing. “We would like to still have him in the team,” said the 59-year-old: “But he’s gone and I believe in the players I have.”
