With anger in their stomachs, Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen left Cologne/Bonn Airport for the second leg of the Europa League playoff on the Côte d’Azur on Wednesday. The mass tussle after the first leg a week ago has not been forgotten.
“We still have a score to settle,” said ex-national player Nadiem Amiri, referring to incidents after the 2-3 final whistle in Leverkusen. Sports director Simon Rolfes warned against overreacting. “Emotions are important, also for the game,” he said after the final training session on Wednesday: “But that mustn’t distract from the performance. We have to take this energy, the will to turn it around. But we still have to be controlled and clever remain.”
Coach Xabi Alonso also said in Monaco: “The defeat still hurts and the experiences from last Thursday are still fresh. But we have to find the balance between emotion and control. We talked about that.”
Wirtz probably from the beginning
After the six changes in the 2-3 win against FSV Mainz 05 Mainz in the league, coach Xabi Alonso will rotate back vigorously. Among other things, national player Florian Wirtz will probably be back in the starting XI. With top scorer Patrik Schick, it is by no means enough for 90 minutes, but he already managed 35 against Mainz.
The press conference in Monaco started a quarter of an hour late on Wednesday. The crew landed in Nice at 5 p.m. and got stuck in a long traffic jam on the way to Monte Carlo.
