Xabi Alonso on Bayer Leverkusen’s DFB Pokal loss to Arminia Bielefeld: “We had no control and made individual mistakes. Nothing worked today.”

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·2. April 2025

Xabi Alonso on Bayer Leverkusen’s DFB Pokal loss to Arminia Bielefeld: “We had no control and made individual mistakes. Nothing worked today.”

Artikelbild:Xabi Alonso on Bayer Leverkusen’s DFB Pokal loss to Arminia Bielefeld: “We had no control and made individual mistakes. Nothing worked today.”

Speaking to Sky Germany (via @bayer04xtra), Xabi Alonso commented on Bayer Leverkusen’s shock DFB Pokal semi-final elimination to Arminia Bielefeld.

Despite taking the lead early on against the third-tier side, Leverkusen struggled to assert themselves against the hosts, and that meant that Bielefeld were simply better. On the performance as a whole, Alonso said:

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Of course everyone is disappointed, but I also have to congratulate Arminia Bielefeld. They played better and were better in everything else too. We didn’t have a good game today and are therefore disappointed. We had no control and made individual mistakes. Nothing worked today.”

The loss now means Leverkusen only have the Bundesliga left to play for and are six points behind Bayern Munich. In the remaining seven Bundesliga games, they will have to win every single won and hope Bayern drops points in three of them to have a chance of overtaking them.

On the team, Alonso commented:

“This team has already given us so much, considering what we achieved last year in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and [this year} in the Champions League. But even in moments like this now, we stay together, which is also important. Of course, I’m not satisfied, but you have to accept that. We have to [give everything in the Bundesliga], that’s our competition now and our goal. It won’t be easy, but we’ll try.”

It was never going to be easy to come close to replicating last season, but in the cup competitions and even in the league, Leverkusen are themselves to blame. In their eliminations to Bayern in the Champions League and Bielefeld in the Pokal, they were far from their best and in some cases handed the wins to their opponents.

While in the league, they simply failed to get the better of mid-table teams; the dropped points to Werder Bremen this season, as well as a draw at home to Holstein Kiel, have been detrimental to their pursuit of retaining the title.

GGFN | Jack Meenan