„Not afraid of it“: planned Bayern counter-attack leaves Leverkusen players cold

Simon Rolfes, Managing Director of Sport at Bayer Leverkusen, is not worried about FC Bayern’s reaction after the Werkself won the championship. The German champions don’t want to look too much towards Munich next season either.

Leverkusen boss Simon Rolfes is not worried about the counter-attack from Munich next season after the Bayer team won the Bundesliga title.

The Werkself’s sporting director said on the ARD morning programme: „No, I’m not worried, we only play them twice and not every matchday. The important thing is what we do.“

Leverkusen won the championship five matchdays before the end of the season with a 16-point lead over FCB.

The German record champions were very interested in signing Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, but the Spaniard wants to continue working at Bayer.

Rolfes on Alonso: „Has the feeling of being in the right place“

Rolfes said: „We definitely have a team that will be competitive in the top flight of the Bundesliga next season. That’s an important reason why Xabi is staying here despite great interest. He has the feeling that he’s in the right place,“ said the 42-year-old.

After the 5-0 win against Werder Bremen, with which Leverkusen clinched the title, Rolfes admitted that he „didn’t sleep for too long“. He couldn’t say how long the party lasted, „because the players have moved on“.

However, Leverkusen don’t want to celebrate too much, as the team still has a chance of winning the DFB Cup and the Europa League: „We still have goals ahead of us, the big party will be after the cup. Yesterday was rather spontaneous, but those are often the best celebrations,“ explained Rolfes.

On Thursday, West Ham United will first be aiming to reach the semi-finals of the Europa League. „That’s something very special, we’ll do everything we can for it,“ promised Rolfes. Bayer won the first leg against the Londoners 2:0.