Granit Xhaka and Leverkusen lose 4-0 away to Liverpool. After the game, the 32-year-old analyzes what went wrong. But the 133-time international also has praise for the Reds. The blue Sport experts Pascal Zuberbühler and Marcel Reif are not yet sounding the alarm either.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Bayer Leverkusen lose 4-0 away to Liverpool in the Champions League.
- Granit Xhaka goes in search of clues after the defeat. He is annoyed about his team's defensive behavior, but also praises Liverpool.
- The blue Sport experts Marcel Reif and Pascal Zuberbühler don't paint a bleak picture either. The latter believes that Leverkusen will learn from this defeat.
- blue Sport broadcasts all Champions League matches live.
Leverkusen put up a good fight for a long time in Liverpool on Tuesday evening and went into the break with a 0-0 draw. In the second half, however, the German champions conceded four goals and went down without a trace. Leverkusen star Granit Xhaka said in his analysis shortly after the end of the game that they had played "a very good first half". They had a lot of possession and also found the spaces, just as they had imagined in the run-up to the game. "You can't dominate Liverpool for 90 minutes, we knew that. But we're conceding easy goals again because we don't come back, we stand still. That can't happen at this level."
«The 1-0 is world-class play, you have to be honest about that»
Leverkusen star praises Liverpool
That's a shame, because they didn't manage to reward themselves in the first half. But Xhaka also knows: "We're not the only ones who have lost here before. So we can also take some good things with us. But of course, the goals we conceded shouldn't happen at this level."
But what exactly went wrong with the goals conceded? "The 1-0 is world-class play, you have to be honest about that. A through ball between two of our central defenders. Top play."
Xhaka continued: "They have quality, but we knew that too. But the second, third, fourth goal ... We just don't keep up with the men. That's what annoys me. Because there weren't too many chances after that either. But we lose a lot of 50-50 duels."
The analysis by Marcel Reif and Pascal Zuberbühler
The Leverkusen defeat is also analyzed in the Champions League studio of blue Sport. Reif, who praises Leverkusen in his half-time analysis, says: "It's not just the team, it's Anfield. When the whole thing gets into this aggregate state there, I mean, I've experienced it four or five times, there's little you can do against the force. However, Leverkusen defended in a way that was too much for them. Four is clear, that really hurts. Diaz shot them down with three goals."
Analyzing the second goal conceded, Reif said: "That's not defending to the end, that's not the Bayer Leverkusen of last season." Pascal Zuberbühler also criticized the defensive behaviour, but at the same time paid Liverpool a "huge compliment" for "the way they performed". And referring to Leverkusen: "They were given a lesson in the second half. [...] Now you've been slapped in the face, but you have to grow from these slaps. And I'm sure Leverkusen will also grow from this slap in the face."
No cause for concern at Leverkusen
After last season's outstanding campaign, in which Leverkusen won the league and cup double in Germany and suffered their only defeat of the season in the Europa League final, things may not be going quite as smoothly this season, but coach Xabi Alonso's team are far from being in crisis mode. Leverkusen are in 4th place in the Bundesliga after nine rounds, seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
Apart from the defeat in Liverpool, things are also going quite well in the Champions League. After four rounds, Bayer have 7 points to their name and are 11th in the 36-team table, although they could drop a few places on Wednesday.
The top eight qualify directly for the round of 16, while places 9 to 24 will battle it out in play-off duels after the group stage for the eight remaining places in the round of 16. The European adventure ends for the teams in places 25 to 36.
In the group stage of the Champions League, which has been reformed for this season, each team will play four home and four away games, with each team facing eight different opponents.
