Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham LIVE commentary: Irons face uphill battle to end German side’s remarkable unbeaten run – kick-off time, team news and how to follow

West Ham face the difficult task of facing Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter-finals this evening.

The Irons are in Germany to face a team undefeated in all competitions this season.

Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen run away with the Bundesliga title and qualify for the DFB-Pokal final, so they will prove to be an incredibly tough opponent for David Moyes’ men.

However, the Hammers will go there knowing they have the quality to hurt Leverkusen and earn a result in east London for the second leg.

Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham: Paqueta makes the difference

With Lucas Paqueta, West Ham have a truly world-class midfielder.

The Brazilian is a superb technician with the ball at his feet and is as adept at setting up players as he is at scoring goals.

He is also physical and big and uses that muscle to pin down defenders and create opportunities for others.

But Paqueta’s most impressive attribute is his work rate off the ball.

It would be very easy for a number ten to contribute nothing outside of possession, but he is often the one to lead West Ham’s attempts to win the ball back and is averaging 2.5 tackles per game in the Europa League this season .

If West Ham are to beat Leverkusen, they need Paqueta to be at his best.

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• This is the first European meeting between Bayer Leverkusen and West Ham United. Bayer last faced English opponents in Europe in the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League group stage against Spurs (0-0 at home, won 1-0 away).
• West Ham United have already eliminated German opponents in the UEFA Europa League this season, beating SC Freiburg 5-1 on aggregate in the round of 16. However, they lost the first leg of their knockout tie 1-0 in Freiburg.
• Among coaches who have played at least 15 matches in the UEFA Europa League, only Diego Simeone (81%, 26 wins, 21 wins) has a better win rate than Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso (16 wins, 11 wins, 69%), while Alonso’s team averages 2.4 goals per game. match (38 out of 16), the best of any manager with more than 15 matches in the competition.

Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham: team news

The hosts have some fitness concerns regarding several players.

Adam Hlozek went out in the first half this weekend with an ankle problem and was ruled out of this one.

Nathan Tella is doubtful due to a hip problem detected during the same match.

However, Victor Boniface is in good shape after a long injury caused by a kidnapper.

Meanwhile, West Ham have lost Jarrod Bowen to a spinal problem.

Alphonse Areola will not play due to a groin injury while Edson Alvarez is suspended.

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• Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten in the UEFA Europa League this season (W7 D1), scoring 24 goals in eight matches. Only in 2001-02 did they win more matches in a major European season (8), while they only scored more goals in 1994-95 (26) and 2001-02 (29) than they did this campaign.
• This is West Ham’s fifth UEFA Europa League match against a German club this season, with the other four coming against SC Freiburg. They are only the third English team to play more than 5 matches against German teams in a major European season, joining Liverpool in the 1972-73 UEFA Cup and Manchester City in the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League. , who both won these competitions. season.
• Patrik Schick has scored in each of his last four UEFA Europa League appearances for Bayer Leverkusen, netting five goals including four as a substitute. Only Rodrigo Palacio in 2012-13 for Inter (5) has scored more sub-goals in a Europa League season, while Ulf Kirsten is the only Bayer player to score in five major European matches consecutive, twice (5 in 1993-94). & 5 in 1998-99).

Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham: What was said?

West Ham’s Valdimir Coufal can’t wait to face Bayer Leverkusen.

He said: “They have a lot of strong players in their team and it won’t be an easy game.

“We’re going to do everything we can to stop them, and I’m going to give the guys some insight to help them!”

“If we were no longer in the competition I would probably be rooting for them to come out on top, but we have a job to do and we are confident we can stop them.

“They are favorites to win the Bundesliga and the German Cup, but hopefully we can ensure that two trophies are all they get this season.”

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• Bayer Leverkusen have won all four of their UEFA Europa League home matches this season, scoring more than 3 goals in each game (17 in total). The only team in Europa League history to win five in a row and score more than 3 goals in each match was Chelsea in 2018-19, while no German team has ever scored more than 17 goals at home during a Europa League season.
• Mohammed Kudus has scored five goals in each of the last two major European campaigns (5 for Ajax in 2022-23, 5 for West Ham this season). Kudus is only the third Ghanaian player to score more than 10 goals in major European competitions, joining Anthony Yeboah (17) and Michael Essien (11).

Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham: date and how to follow

This quarter-final first leg of the Europa League will take place on Thursday April 11.

Kick-off at the BayArena is scheduled for 8pm UK time.

talkSPORT 2 will have live coverage from Germany, with Jim Proudfoot and former Republic of Ireland midfielder Ray Houghton guiding you through the action.

To tune into talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 via the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, via your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.