Xabi Alonso praised the “World Class” aspects of Florian Wirtz, despite the fact that Bayer Leverkusen collapsed on Saturday to a 2-2 draw with RB Leipzig.
The Bundesliga champions rose to a lead of two goals thanks to strikes by Patrik Schick and Aleix Garcia in the Red Bull Arena.
David Raum, however, withdrew one in the first half before the late own goal of Edmond Tapsoba completed an impressive change for Leipzig.
The draw left Leverkusen in the second, six points on drifts of leaders Bayern Munich, but Alonso chose to concentrate on the positive points of road performance.
“He [Wirtz] Had four, five world class movements, “said the head coach of Leverkusen during his press conference after the game.” It is a pleasure to see him play and help him.
“The result could be both better and worse. We had our chances of scoring a third goal. We could have killed the game.
“It's a shame, but it's hard to get here after our game in Madrid. We have to continue.”
A difficult one. But we have big games coming. We continue to fight ourselves! pic.twitter.com/1fmfxloeuh
– Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@Bayer04_en) January 25, 2025
Leverkusen are still unbeaten in 17 games this campaign, including six draws that Bayern handed over the benefit in the title race.
Alonso acknowledged that his side should improve when defending leads if they want to successfully reclaim their top-flight Kroon in the 2024-25 season.
“We wanted to keep the lead, we have to work on that,” added the Spaniard. “But I also have to say that Leipzig moisture is about to.”
Leverkusen was left to restore a lack of calmness for the goal of Piero Hincapie, Wirtz and Exequiel Palacios in the second half.
The side of Alonso has indeed built up a huge 2.55 expected goals (XG) to 0.73 from Leipzig, which suggests that the away match of the road should have been triumphed on the basis of the quality of their chances compared to.
“We were not effective enough in the second half,” Schick admitted. “On the other hand, Leipzig also played well.
“Not many teams win here. We were compact, we played well. But unfortunately it wasn't enough to win.”
Comments