The Daily Bee: Bayer Leverkusen Become Bundesliga’s Last Hope in Europe

Good Morning Fear the Wall

First, I would like to make the following official statement, following slanderous accusations made about me yesterday in the Daily Bee:

Despite the disgusting rumours being spread by Kean Seyser in yesterday’s Daily Bee, I was, in fact, travelling to Oxford, a posh city north-west of London. I was not drinking in a pub called “Oxford”, nor do I know any pubs called “Oxford”. I only know pubs called The Wheatsheaf and Pratts & Payne and East Dulwich Tavern. Not only was I not at the pub, I was surrounded by middle class people on my way to a work meeting. Tragedies don’t come any greater than that, and I am formally requesting a public apology from Fear the Wall’s “editor-in-chief”, after he made the decision to drag my impeccable name through the mud, all for the purpose of cheap content.

Anyway, on with the Daily Bee (because I am a PROFESSIONAL).

There were only two German sides left in Europe heading in to the quarter finals of all three competitions: Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League. As Sean discussed yesterday, Bayern Munich were summarily swept aside by the favourites to win the Champions League, Manchester City. That left Bayer Leverkusen as the only remaining Bundesliga side in Europe.

Leverkusen went into the second leg of their quarter final tie against Union St. Gilloise needing to get a result away from home, having drawn 1-1 against the Belgian side at the BayArena last week. Luckily, unlike some cowardly Bundesliga sides that haven’t got the necessary mentality to go out and win in the big games, Bayer Alwayskusen gave Union a 4-1 drubbing, confirming their place in the last four of the Europa League.

If Die Werkself are to go all the way in Europe, they will first have to beat Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma, who won the Europa Conference League last season, before facing either Juventus or Sevilla in the final. Leverkusen, however, will fancy their chances, and FiveThirtyEight even have them as the most likely to win the Europa League at this point.

Hopefully Sometimeskusen can lift the Europa League trophy again (having done so once before, when it was called the UEFA Cup, in the late 1980s). I’m sure everyone will be very weird about them being a representative of our Bundesliga, as opposed to a team looking to win a major trophy for their own glory.

The Links

• Felix Passlack will join VfL Bochum on a free this summer.
• BVB are interested in USMNT and Valencia player, Yunus Musah.
• Eintracht Frankfurt are keen to sign Ansgar Knauff on a permanent deal, and will submit an opening offer of €5m.
• Negotiations over Marco Reus’s contract extension are still ongoing.

The Daily Buzz

Can Bayer Leverkusen go all the way and win the Europa League?