‘We’ll be full of confidence’

But nobody at Bayer 04 wants to entertain that thought. Rudi Völler was in confident mood ahead of flying out to the Russian capital. “It’s all in our hands after the great win against Atlético. Of course, it will be tough battle on a difficult surface. We’ll have a good chance in Russia if we play as well as we did against Freiburg,” said the director. The Bosz team will have to be more clinical with their finishing than has recently been the case 

Optimism in place of despair

Peter Bosz obviously shares that desire. The Werkself head coach was keen to back his players at Monday night’s pre-match press conference at the RZD Arena (28,000 capacity) in Moscow: “I’ve often had the experience in football that you can sometimes create lots of chances and only one goes in. I don’t know why that happens,” said the 56-year-old. His players will do all they can and look to get over the absence of luck in finishing in the game against Freiburg with two efforts hitting the woodwork. “I’d be worried as a coach if we stopped creating chances. That would mean we’d have got a lot wrong,” explained Bosz before adding, full of confidence: “If we play as well as we have recently then the ball will end up in the back of the net again somehow.”

It’s clear the Werkself will have to produce an impressive performance against a tricky opponent currently lying second in the table in the Russian top flight. The team coached by Juri Sjomin competed all the way with the leaders of Group D, Juventus (10 points), both home and away – but ended up narrowly losing 2-1 in both matches. And Lokomotiv also gave as good as they got against Atlético Madrid (7) despite losing 2-0 in the end. “They were a bit unlucky to lose the game. There was more in it for them,” said Bosz in praising the performances of the hosts, who are level with the Werkself on three points.
The scenario: The Werkself need to win by at least two goals to ensure going above Lokomotiv. That would guarantee third place and a place in the last 32 in the Europa League. If Atlético win the later game tomorrow night in Turin (21.00 CET) then the Werkself and Lokomotiv would go out of the Champions League regardless of the outcome of their game. 

Tough battle in freezing temperatures

The Black and Reds can expect a battle in the cold at the modern arena in Moscow. The weather forecasters predict freezing temperatures. Jonathan Tah remains undaunted. “We can’t worry about that too much. Of course, the conditions will be different from back home but the opponents face the same conditions.” The Werkself number four is combative – also looking back to the recent victory over Atlético: “We’ll be full of confidence tomorrow.”

Moreover: Lokomotiv Moscow have lost all four European home games against German teams (with one goal for and nine against). A good omen?