Seventeen games in the Bundesliga, seven goals. Seven Champions League games, four goals. This is the business card of football sniper Patrik Schick in the current season (we can also add two hits in the German Cup). The Czech striker can still take it seriously, despite all the injuries and other troubles.
And his Leverkusen benefit from it. He won the opening last time on Wednesday LM play-off match at Olympiakos Piraeus 2:0while it was Schick who took care of both goals after an hour of play in a span of just two minutes. And who else? It used to be true that he they don’t do well in the most prestigious cup competitionhowever, that is – it seems – the past.
“We’ve gotten a lot better lately. I hope we keep it up,” he stated dryly the hero of the evening Schick. Leverkusen already has one foot in the round of 16, and in Germany’s top competition, they are coming from sixth place to fifth Leipzig and fourth Stuttgart. However, for this, the Czech gunner needs to be fit, which is not quite the rule.
“I’m happy for him. In the last few days, I’ve also seen in training how strong he is in finishing. You can tell his experience in matches, today he decided the result.” coach Kasper Hjulmand praised the performance of the thirty-year-old Schick.
By the way – the Czech representative became only the second Bayer player to score two goals in one match in the elimination phase of the Champions League. The first was the former captain of the German national team, Michael Ballack, who made it to the final with Leverkusen in 2002.
Schick’s double feat against Olympiakos did not only please Leverkusen fans, but also indirectly helped Czech club football. It goes for the coefficient and the fight for the important tenth place. This is currently held by the Czech Republic, followed by Greece. So if Olympiakos is eliminated, it will be good news for the domestic teams.
“Olympiakos is on the brink of elimination ahead of the rematch and the difference between the Czech Republic and Greece remains at 0.913 points,” he said on the X network account FC Coefficientclosely following cup math. Greece has three more clubs in the game – Panathinaikos and PAOK in the European League, AEK Athens in the Conference League. In addition, the first-named will compete in a direct duel with Viktoria Plzeň.
And as for Schick, one can only hope that his form will last until the coming season playoffs for advancement to the World Cup.
