Alonso ahead of #WOBB04: 'There will be no excuses'

"We are happy that all the international players were back in Leverkusen by yesterday. We talked a lot to each other yesterday and we will train together again for the first time today. But having so little time to prepare is not new to us," said Alonso at the start of the press conference on Friday. The Spaniard added: "We are currently benefiting from our preseason when we played a lot of games. That ensures we have a certain consistency in every game and can directly put our plans into action. So there will be no excuses tomorrow."

no injury worries

The good news is that all Werkself players have returned from international duty free of injury. The squad is therefore almost complete. Alonso still has to manage without the services of Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Arthur and Ayman Aourir. The Spanish coach will decide who will be in the squad for the game against VfL Wolfsburg after the final training session on Friday afternoon: "We have great competition for all positions, everybody has great quality, almost everybody is fit. That makes the decision all the more difficult for me as a coach but I prefer it to everything being straightforward. That shows all the players are always ready and that we have a high degree of flexibility and balance."

An example of that was the introduction of Amine Adli, Nathan Tella and Adam Hlozek in the 3-0 derby win against FC Köln: "They brought new energy into our game so we were able to maintain the tempo over 90 minutes," said the Spaniard before adding: "That's what we're looking for. We want to play consistent and mature football."

playing Schick "entirely realistic"

A first appearance for striker Patrik Schick in seven months is "entirely realistic" according to Alonso. The Czechia international has "completed almost all the training sessions in the last two weeks. But we want to take it step-by-step with him just as we did with Flo (Wirtz, ed.), " said Alonso as he praised the attitude of the 27-year-old: "We see his quality in every training session. We need him, his goals and his personality. You can see that he's happy again and feels better. We’re really happy about that."

Alonso on Wolfsburg: "big challenge"

Wolfsburg, who have yet to lose a home game this season, were described by the 41-year-old as a "strong team who have a great coach in Niko Kovac. They signed lots of players in the summer with high quality and the right mentality. It will be a big challenge."

strong away support again

An impressive 2,530 Bayer 04 fans will be supporting the team at the Volkswagen Arena. Tickets will also be available on the day at the ground.