“You have to take every chance you get in Leverkusen“

With two wins already secured this week, SC now travel from Serbia to the Rhineland. Opponents Bayer Leverkusen are top of the Bundesliga, unbeaten with seven wins from eight games. “Everybody knows that Leverkusen are the league’s in-form side,” said Vincenzo Grifo.

It’s going to be an extremely tough game for SC, especially because two players who started the Europa League fixture in Topola are now out injured. Roland Sallai had to be taken off after a muscle issue, while Maximilian Philipp damaged his shoulder. The pair will not only miss the trip to Leverkusen, but also potentially the coming games too.

“Losing both of these two during this extremely busy period of the season is a disaster for us,” admitted Christian Streich. “The game in Leverkusen will be extremely difficult. We will have to suffer a lot. We will need to accept being frustrated because there will be lots of occasions where we can’t get the ball. They play a lot of short passes to each other, even in midfield.”

The main way SC have prepared for the game is by recovering well from European action in midweek. “We need to try and get fresh legs as quickly as possible. The game in Leverkusen will be really tiring,” explained Nicolas Höfler, who, along with his coach, was happy that the team remained in Serbia to prepare for the game against the team currently in first place. “It was definitely the right decision. We were under no stress this way.”

Bayer 04 boss Xabi Alonso will be well aware that SC have come from behind to win their last two games. “We are travelling to Leverkusen on the back of some success,” said an optimistic Streich. Grifo, who scored against Bochum and then bagged a hat-trick in Topola, believes that SC will not be given too many chances on Sunday: “Leverkusen are incredibly solid in possession and have so much quality. You have to take every opportunity you get.” Grifo also found the back of the net the last time the two sides met, whipping in a free-kick to open the scoring in a 1-1 draw.

Photo: Achim Keller