Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso was delighted with the response his facet confirmed after they gained a dramatic DFB-Pokal quarter-final in opposition to second-tier Cologne.
Alonso’s workforce trailed 2-1 till the ultimate seconds of the sport, when Patrik Schick’s equaliser took the tie to additional time, throughout which Victor Boniface bagged the objective that gained his facet the sport 3-2.
Schick’s brace took him to twenty targets for the season, turning into simply the fourth Leverkusen participant to hit that mark in a number of campaigns after Ulf Kirsten, Stefan Kiessling and Dimitar Berbatov.
Having knocked out Bayern Munich within the spherical of 16 earlier than Christmas, the present holders have each probability of retaining their trophy in Might, with Stuttgart standing between them and a spot within the closing.
Alonso stated: “I’m happy to have reached the semi-final.
“It was a really powerful sport in opposition to an excellent opponent. However we confirmed a superb response.
“It was possibly not our greatest sport, however we performed with an enormous coronary heart. We fought till the final minute to succeed in this stage.”
Admin working to vary all of the “We exit the cup” full time graphics like… pic.twitter.com/9hYA24P5BP
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) February 5, 2025
Alonso turned solely the third supervisor because the flip of the millennium to win every of his first 10 matches within the DFB-Pokal, after Louis van Gaal and Pep Guardiola.
The highly-rated coach has additionally gained 10 straight house matches in all competitions with Leverkusen, who’re additionally preventing to retain the Bundesliga and are into the final 16 of the Champions League.
