Classy Germans are one of the Euro favourites
Bayer Leverkusen are one of the favourites to win the Europa League, according to Porto boss Sergio Conceicao, who lost out to both them and Rangers this season.
The Light Blues face the Bundesliga highfliers in the last-16 of the competition with the first leg at Ibrox next week.
Leverkusen dumped Porto out of the Europa League after a 3-1 win in Portugal to go through comfortably, 5-2 on aggregate.
Porto have also faced Rangers twice this season with Steven Gerrard’s men winning in Glasgow following a creditable draw away.
But Conceicao believes it will be a tough ask for Rangers to get through because he was hugely impressed with the Germans.
He said: “Let me be clear, Bayer Leverkusen are an extremely strong team and certainly the best we have faced in this competition.
“In my opinion, they are one of the strong favourites to win the Europa League.
“We had to attack them and, unfortunately, that played into their hands. They were extremely quick on the counterattack. They were too fast and skilful for us.
“They also play in the best league in the world, in my view, which means they play against strong opposition every week.
“Collectively and individually, Leverkusen are a classy team.”
Meanwhile, Leverkusen city officials are confident Rangers’ clash in Germany will get the go-ahead, despite concerns the game will have to be played behind closed doors because of the deadly coronavirus.
Steven Gerrard’s side face Leverkusen in the last-16 tie second leg later this month in the city’s BayArena.
But the worldwide spread of coronavirus has already started to impact on football and it’s predicted to get worse, with 14 confirmed cases in the North RhineWestphalia state where Leverkusen are based, with more than 1,000 people quarantined.
German FA doctor, Tim Meyer, revealed this week that he couldn’t rule out closed-doors games later in the month. He stated: “No one can seriously predict what the situation will be in a week or two.”
But Leverkusen city chiefs insist it will be business as usual in sport and everyday life.
A spokesman for the city said: “The administration of this city would like to reassure our citizens that there are no plans to cancel any cultural or sporting events or to restrict attendance.
“Of course, we are keeping a close eye on hygiene measures, but we don’t expect any serious disruption at present.”