Alonso ahead of #SCFB04: ‘Take momentum and mentality into the Bundesliga’

“I’m incredibly happy for the lads that they were finally rewarded for their work yesterday and were able to celebrate with the fans. We haven’t got much time for analysis so we want to take exactly that with us and carry on,” said Alonso on Friday morning as he set out the approach to the next Bundesliga away game. Looking back at the Europa League thriller, the 41-year-old boss also revealed: “We practised penalties on Wednesday so I had full confidence in my players being able to do it. They had control of their emotions and strong mentality yesterday. I’m happy.”

For the coming league game, the Spanish coach therefore demanded: “We need that in the Bundesliga again now as we’re finding it tough at the moment.” Alonso described the opponents as follows: “They’re on a very good run and play with high intensity like Mainz. We should focus on that and learn from the mistakes in the game against Mainz.”

suspended Trio: no Tah, Hincapie or Adli

Alonso will have to manage without defenders Jonathan Tah and Piero Hincapie (both serving one-match bans) plus forward Amine Adli (also one-match ban) at SC Freiburg. Some good news: Moussa Diaby will probably be available again for the Bundesliga fixture after playing last night. Alonso did say: “We have to continue to be careful. Moussa would like to play again immediately but we have to manage his workload.”

Alonso also again emphasised the importance of every individual player: “We need the whole squad during this phase. It’s impossible to play with the same line-up every time. Therefore, we need everybody and have to be in a position to be able to use as many players as possible but remain competitive at the same time,” said Alonso. The Spaniard added: “We need time after such an intense game with the great effort invested to decide which players have recovered best and quickest. Every hour is important for recovery.”

over 2,100 Werkself Fans in Freiburg

Lukas Hradecky and Co. will stay in Monaco until Saturday and train there. The Bayer 04 group will travel via Basel to the Breisgau on Saturday 25 February and Leverkusen will have another training session there.

Over 2,100 Werkself fans will be on the road to support the team in the game against Freiburg – the highest number in the last ten year. Leverkusen allez!