It’s fair to say not many teams fancied coming up against defending champions Barcelona when the Champions League last-16 draw was announced. With the Catalan giants reprising their usual role as ‘Goliath’, it will be Bayer Leverkusen who fulfil the role of ‘David’ for this round of the tournament. The Germans will now have to somehow find a way past arguably the world’s best club side if they have hopes of reaching this year’s quarter-finals.
While there won’t be many who can envisage how Leverkusen will beat Barca over two-legs, there will be a few brave/optimistic folk out there who may fancy the Germans to spring a surprise. The club will go into the knockout stages on the back of some very encouraging European form, following three straight victories in their group campaign, including an impressive 2-1 victory against Valencia. Fans of the Betfair Champions League will be wondering if they can cause an upset.
The Barcelona game will give Leverkusen a chance to remind themselves what they are fighting for in this season’s Bundesliga. The club are currently eight points adrift from the top-four in the league, and the Champions League qualification that comes with it, something that is certainly a motivation to Leverkusen’s skipper Simon Rolfes.
The midfielder knows his team need to show more consistency in the second half of their season if they are to maintain their place at European football’s top table. Those looking at the Betfair betting website should bear this in mind.
“We know that we have got to play a very good second half of the season,” said Rolfes.
“But we want to be playing against Chelsea or Barcelona next year and not against Rosenborg or Kharkiv – the Europa League is not our goal.”
“We were too inconsistent in the first half of the season,” he said. “Playing the odd good game does not get you anywhere.”
Victory against Barcelona may seem like an impossible mission, however, every team has a bad day, even one as seemingly faultless as the Catalans, and if that is the case when the two sides meet then Leverkusen need to be ready to take advantage.