The Brazilian says “I’m sure we’ll have a great game” against Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Villarreal’s Brazilian forward, Leo Baptistao, is really looking forward to the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 tie against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The first leg of which will be played this Thursday in El Madrigal (21:05pm CET). “We’re feeling really good in spite of the loss to Las Palmas. We’re really focused on the game, as we must be to face a great side like Leverkusen. I’m sure we’ll have a great game. We’re happy with what we’ve done so far. We’re working really hard and we feel good on the pitch”, he commented.
According to Leo Baptistao, the first leg of this knockout round will be key to how it all pans out: “The first leg is always key in a knockout tie. If we get a good result we’ll be more relaxed going to Germany. We’ll do our best to win. We are going to try to exploit their weaknesses and that’s what we’re working towards. We must go out there with maximum concentration”.
With regard to analysing the opposition, the Yellow number 10 highlighted the Germans’ intensity: “Talking about Bayern 04 Leverkusen – it’s never a good moment to face them. We can’t wait for the game though and we know we can do them some damage. We will try to be more intense than them so we can go to Germany with an advantage”.
Baptistao also stressed the importance of changing up the team to distribute minutes between players in the upcoming games: “We are doing ok. We don’t have many injuries and so we can make changes. Physically we’re not worried because we have a lot of depth to our squad. We’ll work really hard in the upcoming games as it’s what we have to do if we want to finish high up”.
Villarreal will play against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (9:05pm CET) this Thursday and against Sevilla this coming Sunday (4pm CET). “They’re both brilliant games to play before the break in the league and we’re all really enthusiastic to help the team to keep doing well. We’re very ambitious. We experienced how good it feels to win and we want to get back to the great streak we were on”, Baptistao concluded.
