Leverkusen relishing Tottenham clash
Bayer Leverkusen boss Rudi Voeller promises his erratic German team will put up ‘a fight’ in today’s Champions League group stage match against high-flying Tottenham Hotspur.
After letting winning positions slip in their previous Group E fixtures, Leverkusen must be wary of Tottenham, the only team still unbeaten in England’s top flight this season.
Roger Schmidt’s Leverkusen face a Spurs side buoyed by Dele Alli’s last-gasp equaliser in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against West Bromwich Albion, which extended the North London club’s unbeaten league run to eight matches.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham are second in the Champions League group after their 1-0 win at CSKA Moscow three weeks ago, the same night Bayer drew 1-1 at table leaders Monaco.
“I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll be playing in front of a full house against a very good team, who have yet to lose a game in the Premier League,” said Leverkusen’s sports director Voeller.
“We tend to do well against teams like that, we will put in a good fight and the fans will see a great game, hopefully with a win for us.”
Leverkusen have drawn both of their group stages games so far.
Having raced into a two-goal lead at home to CSKA Moscow, they allowed the Russians to come back to force a 2-2 draw with all four goals scored in the first half.
Likewise, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez gave Leverkusen a second-half lead at Monaco a fortnight ago, only for Kamil Glik to hit a 94th-minute equaliser with the host’s first shot of the game in a 1-1 draw.
Leverkusen’s Bundesliga form of late has been erratic.
An impressive 2-0 win at home to Borussia Dortmund and victory away to Mainz was sandwiched between defeats to strugglers Werder Bremen and mid-table Eintracht Frankfurt.
Pochettino says Spurs should have had more out of their draw with West Brom, which left them third in the Premier League, but says they will be ready for the game in Germany.
“We dominated the game, we created the better chances, but we have to be happy with the point and now get ready for Leverkusen on Tuesday,” said Pochettino, whose team lost 2-1 at home to Monaco in their opening game.
One of Leverkusen’s main tasks will be to contain Spurs’ starstudded attack which includes England forward Dele Ali, Argentina’s Erik Lamela and Son Heung-Min.
Today’s UCL fixtures