West Ham United coach David Moyes has clearly criticized Bayer Leverkusen’s substitutes and management after his team’s 2-0 defeat in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final. “The bank was a disgrace. The whole bench ran onto the pitch,” said the 60-year-old.
Moyes specifically referred to a scene in the first half. West Ham professional Lucas Paqueta severely fouled Leverkusen’s Amine Adli on the sideline. Numerous players then got into a scuffle. Paqueta was shown a yellow card and is suspended for the second leg. “I don’t think we would behave like that and all jump off the bench. They shouldn’t have reacted like that,” Moyes said. The West Ham coach, however, had words of praise for Leverkusen football: “We played against a team that is at Champions League level,” said Moyes. “They’re a really good team.”
“Have the right”
When asked about the Scot’s statements, Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said: “It was a foul, there was a yellow card. It was deserved. We all got up. We have the right to do that.” The Basque also said: “Respect for David, but it was the right decision by the referee to give the yellow card. We concentrated on ourselves and didn’t pay attention to the other bank.”
Immediately after the final whistle, Leverkusen’s eyes turned to what could be a historic weekend. “I got goosebumps,” said Joker goalscorer Jonas Hofmann to the championship chants from the north curve. On Sunday, “tears may flow, so you let your emotions run free.”
In the home game against Werder Bremen (5:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN), the Werkself can become German champions six rounds before the end, for the first time in the club’s history: “We know that we can make history. For the club, for the fans, for ourselves,” said midfield boss Granit Xhaka: “We will do everything we can to close the bag.”
“There’s great anticipation”
When the second leg against West Ham takes place on Thursday next week (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on RTL), Bayer could move into the semi-finals as German champions. “The anticipation is great. It can’t be bigger,” said successful coach Alonso about the game against Bremen: “If we win, we are champions. We have to go full throttle. We have 90 minutes to achieve something very special.”
Leverkusen’s victory over West Ham and Liverpool’s surprising defeat against Atalanta Bergamo increased German football’s chances of an additional starting place in the Champions League for the coming season.
The Bundesliga pushed the English Premier League out of second place in the current season’s UEFA rankings, but it remains a neck-and-neck race. Behind Italy (18.428), Germany now has 16.786 points. England follows right behind with 16,750 points.
Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Christopher Meltzer, London Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 10
From the coming season, 36 participants will start in the premier class instead of the previous 32. Two of the four new places will be awarded to the nations with the best performance in international competitions this season.
