West Ham United will play Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter-final after the international break.
Many expect Bayer Leverkusen to wipe the floor with West Ham in the Europa League next month, especially with Edson Alvarez set to miss the game through suspension.
Xabi Alonso’s side are currently flying high at the top of the Bundesliga, with a 10-point advantage over second placed Bayern Munich.
The Spaniard has transformed ‘Die Schwarzroten’ since taking over at BayArena in October 2022, and he has his side playing arguably the best football on the continent.
Meanwhile, David Moyes has guided his Hammers side to seventh spot in the Premier League table, although the football implemented by the Scot this season has been dull, and incredibly hard to watch at times.
We can be very hard to beat on our day and extremely dangerous on the counter attack, but the Bundesliga side will be clear favourites to progress through to the semi-finals, there’s no doubt about that.
The odds are definitely against West Ham, but I feel like some specific talk in the German media about Leverkusen really could help us…
West Ham have real hope for Bayer Leverkusen Europa League clash
Bayer have never won the Bundesliga since its inception and that has led to them being labelled as ‘Neverkusen’ out in Germany (The Bundesliga’s official website).
However, they have won other trophies during their existence – the DFB-Pokal in the 1993 and the Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) in 1988.
With that in mind, Levekusen’s priority will surely be to win the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.
Despite their 10-point current lead on Bayern Munich, there are still eight games to be played, and the Bavarian giants will definitely not give up without a fight.
It is highly unlikely that Bayer Leverkusen will have wrapped up the league title before they play the second-leg of the Europa League tie against West Ham – in fact it’s almost impossible.
And for that reason, I feel like we could have a big advantage against them. Their clashes with us are bookended by trips to Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund, with a home game against Werder Bremen in the middle of the two Europa League matches.
I just have a feeling that Alonso may well prioritise the Bundesliga games in the hope of banishing the ‘Neverkusen’ tag. Hopefully I’m proven right!
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