Alonso self-critical
Series almost broken: “That was my mistake!”
It had long looked like defeat in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 against Qarabag before Florian Wirtz (70') and Patrick Schick (90+2') saved Bayer Leverkusen from a 2-2 draw on Thursday evening. Coach Xabi Alonso takes the fact that the run of 35 unbeaten games was almost broken on his head.
"It's a process, the first half wasn't good, that was my mistake - I know why. We'll try to improve that for the future," explained the Spaniard after the game, without revealing what exactly he had done wrong.
It is quite possible that Alonso was talking about the starting line-up, as he had benched his two star players Granit Xhaka and Florian Wirtz, the latter of whom scored in the second half to make it 2-1.
Second leg at home
"We're still in three competitions. It's impossible not to change the line-up," said the coach, defending his decision. With the 2-2 draw, everything is still open, with the second leg taking place on March 14 in Leverkusen's BayArena.
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