Alonso: Title celebrations will not affect Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso had bad news for West Ham counterpart David Moyes after insisting there are no lingering hangovers from their historic Bundesliga title celebrations.
Leverkusen clinched the first title in the club’s history when they beat Werder Bremen 5-0 on Sunday.
But their attention is now focused on defending a 2-0 lead in the second leg of their Europa League quarterfinal against West Ham at the London Stadium tonight.
Hammers boss Moyes admitted he hoped the Leverkusen players might have indulged in a few too many steins of German beer.
But Alonso revealed: “A few of them, probably. But not too many. We had control.
“For sure it was a moment to enjoy it. On Sunday we knew we had a chance so we took one day, in case of winning, to enjoy it.
“But from Tuesday our mind has been focused on West Ham. Now it’s the Europa League and we have a great chance to make a great season even better.
“The commitment, the way we’ve trained, give me reasons to believe we will play well tomorrow.
“We have big challenges ahead. West Ham have good players, they have recent experience of beating Freiburg. We need to put in our best performance.
“I don’t have any feeling that our mentality will be any different from the one that has given us this chance to reach the quarter-final.”
Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka managed to achieve what Harry Kane could not do by winning the title in his first season in Germany.
Kane’s switch from Tottenham to Bayern Munich was expected to end in Bundesliga glory but his new side have been left trailing in Leverkusen’s wake.
“Before you transfer to another country you speak with the club and the coach about the plan and the philosophy,” said Xhaka.
“But of course how we are playing is unbelievable, more than people were thinking before the season. I’m proud to be a part of this team.”
Moyes received a major boost on the eve of the game with the news that Jarrod Bowen looks set to be fit after the Hammers’ 19-goal top scorer missed the first-leg defeat in Germany, and Sunday’s Premier League loss at home to Fulham, with a hip injury.
Bowen took part in training at West Ham’s Rush Green HQ yesterday morning and hopes are high that he will be available against Leverkusen.
Moyes said: “It was great to see Jarrod out there. We’re not sure yet. I would never risk a player if I thought they were injured but you always want your best players back in, your goalscorers as well, and Jarrod has been that this season.”
Moyes will, however, be without key Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta through suspension after he was booked in Germany.
Left-back Emerson Palmieri is also suspended while centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos is a doubt.