Tah doesn’t mind scrap
Jonathan Tah insists he wouldn’t complain if UEFA scrapped the Europa League, despite his Bayer Leverkusen side being one of the tournament favourites.
Stopper Tah’s men humbled Rangers 3-1 at Ibrox in midweek in the f irst leg of their last 16 Europa League tie but
this week’s second leg in Germany has already been postponed.
Leverkusen are clear favourites to reach the quarter-finals but there are now very real doubts over whether this season’s European competitions will be completed as the coronavirus pandemic grips the continent.
German international Tah insists he and his team-mates would accept the decision despite it depriving them of a possible shot at the trophy.
He said: “Health is more important than the title.
“If scrapping the competition helps save people’s lives then I am all for it.
“Everyone’s health is far more important than winning a European trophy and it’s not just me,e, I know that all my team-mates feeleel the same way.”
Leverkusen’s clash with h Rangers at Ibrox on Thursday sday looks likely to be the last football action for quite some ome time as the authorities do o their best to limit the spread ead of the virus.
But keeper Lukas
Hradecky, one of the
German side’s heroes at Ibrox, backed up his team-mate over the prospect of an unsatisfactory end to the tournament this season.
Instead, he reckons Thursday’s match was as good a way as any to sign off from the tournament if that is to be the case.
Hradecky (below) added: “We are a firm candidate to win this trophy now, or at least to get to the final.
“But if they were to cancel the competition then I won’t complain about it.
“I prefer to play football healthy. It’s a bad situation in the world and it’s obviously far more important than footballfootball.
“At the moment I think it looks as thouthough the game at Ibrox will be oour last match for a long timtime.
“And if i that is the case then at leastl it was a game which was played in frontfr of a really gr great atmosphere in Scotland.”