“To make the hat-trick would be magnificent,” says Amine Adli

The Franco-Moroccan winger from Bayer Leverkusen spoke in an interview with AFP before his team’s trip to Dortmund this Sunday.

How did you experience this first victory for your team in the German championship?
Amine Adli: It was a huge relief. Everything we did during the season was rewarded. We celebrated this title at the moment, at the stadium with the supporters, then later in the evening with the players. But the season is not over. We also knew that we had important matches coming up very quickly. From Wednesday, we played a Europa League quarter-final second leg at West Ham (1-1, Bayer qualification). We had to get back to work quickly. (Personally) The excitement around the event, my friends, my family present in the stadium, it was incredible. But like my teammates, I also had in mind that the last match of our season is in the German Cup final for which we are qualified (May 25 against Kaiserslautern/D2).

Was it easy to get back to work?
Naturally, there was a form of decompression but we have an ambitious group, a coach (Xabi Alonso) who pushes us because everyone is aware that we can seek other things. It is this determination that has made the matches so far work in our favor. At West Ham, we weren’t necessarily doing very well in the first half hour, but we didn’t give up, we gave it our all and we ended up snatching a draw.

The season is incredible, grandiose, but we don’t realize what we’re doing.

Amine Adli

A final championship match on May 18, the German Cup final seven days later and a possible Europa League final in the meantime on May 22… This week can get crazy…
We know the date of our last match yes, but we are focused on tomorrow’s match (Saturday 5:30 p.m.) against Dortmund. In the locker room, we do what we have done all season: match after match, it has been quite successful for us. We want to win every match we play.

Is finishing undefeated a goal?
No, it’s not something we talk about. We want to perform well together every weekend. We don’t take any match lightly. There are certainly teams who can relax in the cup, who don’t make the European Cup a goal and don’t play it hard. This is not our case: we played all our matches very seriously. The season is incredible, grandiose, but we don’t realize what we’re doing. In hindsight perhaps.

What can you say about Xabi Alonso, your coach?
He is a young coach, with a still very playful mindset. It hasn’t been long since he ended his playing career. He knows how a locker room works, he trusts the players, he consults us a lot, he is not on our backs all the time. He knows that if we want to +perform+, we have to be as serious in our lives as we are on the pitch. He successfully conveyed this requirement. He has lots of ideas and a proven knowledge of football. A mixture of all that gives him this success.

We knew we had a good team and that we could do something beautiful. But at this point? No

Amine Adli

How did you make the decision to stay at the club next season despite the many requests?
It was a relief for everyone because everyone gets along well with him. Above all, he said that he was staying for us, the players. It’s extremely rewarding.

What is your goal for the end of the season?
We are already German champions, we are in the cup final, in the Europa League semi-final and we only want to go to the end. We want to win all the trophies we can. To achieve the hat-trick would be magnificent.

Even if it’s not over, could you imagine doing a season like this?
After a few championship matches, the arrival of recruits who were adapting well, we felt something happening. We knew we had a good team and that we could do something beautiful. But at this point? No! Nobody imagined a season like this, nor predicted that today we would have 44 matches without defeat.