Bayer Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka on facing Liverpool in the Champions League: “Liverpool is a different caliber.”

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·4 November 2024

Bayer Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka on facing Liverpool in the Champions League: “Liverpool is a different caliber.”

Speaking ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s Champions League tie away at Liverpool on Tuesday evening, midfielder Granit Xhaka has spoken on his experiences of playing against them.

Leverkusen will look to get back on track after drawing against Stuttgart at the weekend as well as drawing against Brest in their last Champions League game. Xhaka has experience playing Liverpool from his time at Arsenal, on the difference between Liverpool and Stuttgart

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“Liverpool is a different caliber, definitely, especially at Anfield. I know what it’s like to play there.”

Since winning the league and DFB Pokal, this is the first great team from outside of Germany that Leverkusen will match up against. In pre-season, they lost to Arsenal, but now they face the Premier League leaders. On Liverpool Xahak said:

“We obviously know how much quality our opponents have, but we don’t have to hide.”

Xhaka added:

“We will analyse Liverpool. Of course we know where their strengths lie. But I think every team has a few weaknesses too. And you have to exploit them,”

In their performance against Stuttgart on Friday evening, Leverkusen were a lot more energetic than in their previous games but due to the performance of Alexander Nübel, they were unable to come away with the three points. To have the chance of coming away from Anfield with a result, Leverkusen will have to reach this level once again and be at their absolute best, or they will encounter their second loss of the season.

GGFN | Jack Meenan