Xabi Alonso on Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-1 loss to Arsenal: “That was far below our standard and far from where we want to be.”
Speaking after Bayer Leverkusen‘s 4-1 loss to Arsenal in a pre-season friendly (via kicker), head coach Xabi Alonso has given his thoughts on the performance.
On Die Werkself’s performance at the Emirates, Alonso said:
“This is a wake-up call for us in preparation, that was far below our standard and far from where we want to be.”
The former midfielder also addressed if last season may be a weight on the squad’s shoulders as they still remain unbeaten in the league:
“We have to forget about last season. We have to focus on the new season to be competitive and to have a good mentality. Maybe we needed a hard slap in the face, and we got a really hard slap.”
In their penultimate pre-season friendly, Leverkusen went two goals down within the first 10 minutes when Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leoandro Trossard both scored for Arsenal. Gabriel Jesus would make it 3-0 before half-time. Former Leverkusen forward Kai Havertz would then make it 4-0 on the 66th minute before Adam Hlozek would score a consolation for Leverkusen 10 minutes later.
The loss for Leverkusen isn’t ideal, but it is the reality check they needed heading into the new season. On Saturday they play their final pre-season game against Real Betis at the BayArena.
A week later, Leverkusen then open their season against VfB Stuttgart in the DFL Super Cup before a week after that travelling to Borussia Mönchengladbach to kickstart their Bundesliga title defence.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
