Alonso: Cup opener last year 'a wake-up call for us'

"We are expecting a highly motivated opponent," said Xabi Alonso at the pre-match press conference on Friday morning. The Spanish coach is aware of the heady mood at the Hamburg team who have made a successful start to the new season. Teutonia are currently league leaders in the Regional League North after two wins on the first two matchdays and they have scored ten goals without conceding any.

ALONSO: "we want to go as far as possible"

The Werkself can go into the cup clash in confident mood. Leverkusen impressed recently in the friendlies away to Olympique Marseille (2-1) and at home to West Ham United (4-0). Alonso: "We've had a good preseason and a successful training camp where we were able to work on a lot of things. We are 100% ready and we’ll give our all. We go into the cup game feeling good and, of course, we want to do better than last year."

The 41-year-old manager sees the early cup exit from last season as a "wake-up call." But refreshing the squad makes him optimistic: "We are at a good level. We've been able to bring in several new players who can help us straightaway with their experience and energy. We want to go as far as we can in the cup," declared Alonso.

The following players miss the Hamburg game due to injury: Patrik Schick, Piero Hincapie, Sardar Azmoun and Gustavo Puerta. Alejandro Grimaldo is fit again and will travel to Hamburg on Friday afternoon.

Alonso: "Leverkusen is the perfect place for me"

The ambitious Spaniard wants to achieve a lot with the Black and Reds not only in the DFB Cup but also in all other competitions and he sees in Bayer 04 a great opportunity to realise his targets. Alonso: "I'm very happy here at this club. Leverkusen is the perfect place for me to carry on developing at the moment. I'm very happy to be able to continue working with Werner Wenning, Fernando Carro, Simon Rolfes and everybody else. We are all highly motivated and are pursuing the same vision."

In response to the question about targets in the Bundesliga this season, Alonso said: "We are only just in August and everybody's a champion in August. The final reckoning comes in May. (He laughs) We'll see what’s possible this season and where we end up." Alonso also referred to the new campaign in the UEFA Europa League: "We were very close to the final last season. That was great. But that's in the past and we are looking forwards now."

Werkself in new third kit for first time

And the fans, who supported the Werkself last term in the most impressive way, are also looking forward to the new season. Over 2,500 will get behind the Black and Reds on Saturday at the game against Teutonia Ottensen at the Millerntor Stadium. The Werkself will wear the new, cyan blue third kit for the first time against Ottensen.

The match in Hamburg will also be a first for Alonso: The game against Teutonia 05 will be the first DFB Cup tie for the Spaniard as a coach.