Xabi Alonso was pleased with his Bayer Leverkusen gamers after they produced a resolute defensive efficiency to earn a 1-1 Bundesliga draw at Bayern Munich.
After Robert Andrich gave Leverkusen the lead, Bayern’s Aleksandar Pavlovic levelled with a shocking half-volley from 25 yards out which gave goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky no likelihood.
Bayern, who had received all 4 of their earlier league video games underneath Vincent Kompany, had 18 pictures to Leverkusen’s three and nearly 70% of the possession.
That’s the fewest pictures Leverkusen have tried in any of their 98 aggressive matches underneath Alonso, whereas additionally they generated simply 0.07 anticipated targets (xG) to Bayern’s 1.32.
Regardless of their lack of attacking menace, Alonso was delighted together with his aspect’s defensive resilience, saying: “The power and perception at Bayern is completely different to final season, they’re going full throttle with and towards the ball.
“That was very robust immediately. We may be proud of the purpose. I wanted extra power from the group.
“I’m proud of that. We had been able to endure and we did that. We’d like the self-discipline and keenness of the gamers.
“It wasn’t straightforward, we didn’t have management of the ball. It was a problem to defend. The purpose is essential… The entire group did very properly. We hardly had an opportunity to breathe however I’m very pleased with my gamers.”
Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka, who supplied the help for the opener, stated their principal technique was to be compact and deny Bayern alternatives to attain.
“We’re self-critical. If you happen to rating three targets each recreation, that’s not sufficient. If we play properly immediately and swap gears, we will do one thing,” Xhaka stated.
“Defensively, we put in a very good efficiency. The purpose immediately was to be compact and concede little. You may definitely do extra with the ball and everybody is aware of that we will do extra. If somebody had instructed us earlier than the sport that we’d get a degree, we’d have taken it.”
Leverkusen will subsequent flip their consideration to the Champions League, after they host AC Milan on Tuesday.
