Hjulmand ahead of #B04ARS: Full of anticipation for ‘one of the most difficult challenges’

"Arsenal are perhaps the best team in Europe at the moment. They finished first in the league phase of the Champions League and won all their games, scored the most goals and conceded the fewest," said Kasper Hjulmand at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday lunchtime. "It's one of the most difficult challenges, but we're really looking forward to it! We want to enjoy big games like this together with our fans."

Of course, Arsenal are "the clear favourites. But we've already shown this season against many big teams like Manchester City, Dortmund and Leipzig that we can beat them. And as we all know, anything is possible in football. You just have to believe in it. This belief in yourself is extremely important. That's why we're going into game with confidence and we’ll give everything at home to get a good result for the second leg."

Hjulmand also attributed a significant share of the Gunners' current wave of success to his opposite number Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard has been in charge at the north London club since 2019. One of Arsenal's many strengths under Arteta: Set-pieces that account for almost 40 per cent of their goals. Hjulmand: "It's a big challenge, they do it very well and are one of the best teams in terms of strength at set-pieces."

Kofane: "be brave and make our fans happy"

Also part of the matchday press conference was Christian Kofane, who has been directly involved in four Leverkusen goals in the last three league games (two goals, two assists). The 19-year-old forward also sees Arsenal as "a very big team. But we have trained well and are ready. We'll be brave and give our all so we don't have to blame ourselves in the end and make our fans happy."

Patrik Schick, who missed the last two matches due to injury, will also be back for this game. When asked about his fellow centre forward, Kofane said "I don't see him as a competitor. I can take a lot from his experience, he helps me a lot in everyday life and on the pitch. I'm delighted to be working with such a successful striker." As a young player, you need advice from outside in order to constantly improve.

At the press conference, his coach Hjulmand emphasised this attitude as one of Kofane's key strengths: "It's great that a young player like Kofi can follow such a path. The way he learns and listens is great. He comes to us and says that we should remain critical of him because he always wants to improve. The personality behind the player Christian Kofane is the reason why he is taking these big steps. You can only advise players like that to stay the way they are, no matter what happens in the future."

congratulations to the big idol from back home

Finally, Kofane, who was still playing in his home country of Cameroon at the end of 2024, took a look back when asked - and also forward: "As a child, I naturally dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. I've already achieved that. Now, of course, I'm striving for lots of appearances, goals and titles - with my club and with the national team." His role model? "Samuel Eto'o, of course (four-time Champions League winner, ed.). He's my big idol - and it's his birthday today. Congratulations to him! He made a lot of things possible for me and showed me that anything is possible if you want it and work hard."

Of course, the same approach now applies to the Round of 16 duels with Arsenal...

SoD Unplugged Ticket competition

The SoD Unplugged ticket is also available for this round! And with this ticket, all Bayer 04 Club members once again have the opportunity to take part in an exclusive competition. The prize this time is a unique SoD record signed by the Werkself players. The SoD Unplugged ticket is available from the day of the first leg at the BayArena (Wednesday, 11 March) up to and including Saturday, 22 March, at the service desk at the Fanwelt. Further information can be found HERE.