EXCULSIVE | Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes on the team’s maturity and learning from losses following their 2-0 win against Manchester City

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·27 de novembro de 2025

EXCULSIVE | Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes on the team’s maturity and learning from losses following their 2-0 win against Manchester City

Imagem do artigo:EXCULSIVE | Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes on the team’s maturity and learning from losses following their 2-0 win against Manchester City

Speaking to GGFN, following Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win against Manchester City in the Champions League, sporting director Simon Rolfes addressed the team’s maturity in recent weeks.

Heading into the game, Leverkusen had struggled in games against teams of similar calibre, losing to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga 3-0 and then earlier in the Champions League campaign, they lost 7-2 to PSG at home.

Vídeos OneFootball

With the game against City, it looked as if it was possible the same thing could happen, especially considering the injuries die Werkself were dealing with.

On whether the team had learned from the losses against Bayern and PSG, sporting director Rolfes said:

“For sure, and that’s what I’m expecting. You know, if you change so many players, you have so many young ones, you cannot expect that you, that you win this kind of matches or be that competitive than, than maybe our team last year, but. What I expect is that we learn from this, from this also, tough moments, you know, when you realise your mistakes. And, that was the expectation from us for today, that we show more maturity, that we are a little bit smarter in some situations, also have more courage to be more brave, to play our game and to show our quality.”

Die Werkself beat City through a strong and disciplined defensive performance and clincality in attack, thanks to goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick, with it fitting that the duo who have been so crucial to Leverkusen’s success over the past few years, leading this young team to a great win.

Leverkusen’s next test:

Leverkusen’s next game will be against Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on Saturday, another big test of Kasper Hjulmand’s team.

On whether the win against City can be used as a launch pad for their next game against Borussia Dortmund, Rolfes said:

“Yeah, but every game has its own characteristic. For sure, the self-confidence that we can reach as a team. The connections to the guys, the connection, it’s so important to be a top team or competitive team that the connections are on the pitch, but also off the pitch are really, really strong. They have a strong bond. And I think these tough moments, but maybe also when you lose against PSG 7-2, it’s, you know, you have to go through this moment. We’re here to defend them. At the end, this creates respondent that’s, that’s so important for me, not only on the pitch, but also off the pitch.”

The win takes B04 into 17th, a comfortable position in the play-off places, but the result should now be used as a launch pad for their Champions League campaign after struggling against PSV, Copenhagen, PSG and Benfica in their opening games of the competition.

GGFN | Jack Meenan