David Moyes’ men reacted impressively to the 1-0 first-leg defeat to Freiburg in the first leg of the round of 16, with a brace from Mohammed Kudus, after earlier goals from Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Cresswell allowed the club to qualify for a 3rd successive continental quarter-final.
The experience of past European successes, as well as Saturday’s Premier League win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, will have served to boost confidence ahead of the first edition of this clash, but West Ham will have no illusions about the challenge promised through one of the players. The most in-form groups in world football.
Former Liverpool star Xabi Alonso has led an unbeaten campaign as Leverkusen manager this season, and they are still chasing three trophies at home and abroad, so the Irons will need to perform at their best to progress further in the competition.
West Ham fans are delighted that the club’s initial allocation of 1,790 tickets priced for this match has been sold to Boldholders, members of the Away programme and season ticket holders with over 51 loyalty points.
Our additional allocation of 350 tickets was sold to bondholders, Away program members, and season ticket holders with more than forty-five points.
In the immediate vicinity of the city of Leverkusen, which has more than 160,000 inhabitants, there are two airports: Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf.
British Airways, Eurowings and Ryanair fly from London to Cologne/Bonn, which is just a 25-minute drive from the BayArena.
If you’re staying in the city of Cologne, you can take exercise RB48 from the main station (Hauptbahnhof) to Leverkusen-Manforf and then bus 222 to the BayArena. The total adventure lasts no more than 30 minutes.
After the match, you will have to walk to Leverkusen Mitte (18 minutes) and take the regional explicit train RE1 or the S6 Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn service, or walk to Leverkusen-Manforf (21 minutes) and take the RB48 regional train. exercise, all of which prevents at Cologne Central Station.
Eurowings also offers direct flights from London Heathrow to Düsseldorf, which is just over 30 minutes from the stadium.
If you’re staying in Düsseldorf, take the S-Bahn S6 from Central Station to Leverkusen Mitte, then walk to the stadium and return the same way after the match.
Thursday’s draw will be broadcast live in the UK on TNT Sports. The list of foreign broadcast partners of the UEFA Europa League can be found by clicking HERE.
You can also follow the action on our live blog on whufc. com and the app, as well as on our social media channels. We will also have exclusive highlights and reactions for you after the final whistle on our online page and social media channels.
Live audio watching will be available in the UK on talkSPORT 2 and globally on our official online page and app and on BBC Radio London.
Midfielder Edson Alvarez will miss the Germany game through suspension, after picking up his third yellow card in this season’s UEFA Europa League crusade against SC Freiburg last time out.
Striker Jarrod Bowen will be assessed after being withdrawn early in the second game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, as will goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, who has missed the last two games with a groin problem.
Adam Hložek and Nathan Tella are doubtful for Bayer Leverkusen as they were forced to pick up injuries in the 1-0 win over Union Berlin in the league on Saturday.
For Bayer Leverkusen fans, it’s not a smart idea to think about what might have happened if Xabi Alonso hadn’t taken over.
Appointed coach in October 2022, the iconic former Spanish midfielder took up his first senior coaching role with his new employer, second from last position in the Bundesliga table after 8 games.
At the end of the season, Leverkusen were sixth, re-securing qualification for the UEFA Europa League, and found themselves in the semi-finals of the festival, where a single goal eliminated them against Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma.
While those efforts have garnered attention in the football world, few could have predicted the dominance Alonso has exerted on all fronts this season.
Having made his mark on the team, bringing in midfielder Granit Xhaka, striker Victor Boniface and winger Jonas Hofmann in the summer, Alonso set the tone for what was to come with a crushing win over West Ham in pre-season.
Since then, they have been unstoppable, unbeaten in their 41 matches heading into this quarter-final against the Hammers, and having drawn five times.
As it stands, Leverkusen are 16 points behind Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga and are on course to be champions for the first time, while also qualifying for the German Cup final next month.
Although they easily qualified for their UEFA Europa League hosting with six wins from six, their passage to the knockout stages appeared to be behind Qarabag on aggregate in the final embers of the teams’ round of 16 second legs, following a 2-2 draw in Azerbaijan a week earlier.
But, as big groups often do, they figured out a way to get the job done, with two goals from Patrik Schick in stoppage time, turning the tie around and securing a tight 5-4 aggregate win.
Boniface, previously mentioned, is Leverkusen’s top scorer this season with 16 goals in 25 games, while defender Alejandro Grimaldo has played the top and scored 11 goals in 40 games.
West Ham United have only visited Bayer Leverkusen once before, on August 5, 2023, and the pre-season proved unforgettable, as the hosts won 4-0.
Apart from that, the Hammers have visited the now unified Germany in UEFA competitions six times, more than any other country.
The first two came in 1966, when Ron Greenwood’s side drew 1-1 with East German Cup winners FC Magdeburg in the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup before losing 3-1 to West German Cup winners Borussia Dortmund in the final. Semi-finals. -Final.
Ten years later, in 1976, the Hammers lost 2–1 at Eintracht Frankfurt at the same level of the same competition, bounced back to win 3–1 at home and qualify.
Eintracht won again at home in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in 2022, before West Ham travelled to SC Freiburg twice in this season’s competition, winning 2-1 organisationally before losing 1-0 in the round. of the first leg, and then won 5-0 at home to reach Leverkusen.
Referee: Artur Dias (POR)Assistant referees: Paulo Soares (POR) and Pedro Ribeiro (POR)Fourth official: António Nobre (POR)VAR: Tiago Martins (POR)VAR Assistant: Hugo Miguel (POR)
A full Portuguese contingent will be led by Artur Dias, who has been a FIFA and UEFA referee since 2010.
The 44-year-old, who was born in Porto and lives in Vila Nova de Gaia, began his whistleling career in 2004/05 and has since made around 700 appearances domestically and abroad.
Dias, FIFA’s youngest Portuguese referee, has refereed two Taça de Portugal finals (won with Braga in 2015/16 and FC Porto in 2019/20), at Euro 2020, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and more than 20 times in the UEFA Champions League.
He had already been the midfield player in a West Ham United match, when the Hammers drew 1-1 at Astra Giurgiu in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs in August 2016.
Most recently, he refereed England’s 1-0 home loss to Lucas Paqueta’s Brazil last month – the seventh time he has overseen a match involving the Three Lions.
For more information on the officers, click HERE.
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