Xabi Alonso has hailed Victor Boniface, Nathan Tella and other second substitutes whose impacts helped Bayer Leverkusen defeat West Ham.
Leverkusen continued their impressive campaign this season as they beat West Ham 2-0 in the first leg ot the Europa League on Thursday night.
Tella and Boniface came on in the 67th and 76th minutes respectively.
Jonas Hofmann, who came with 13 minutes left, had given Leverkusen the lead on 83 minutes, Boniface then added the second goal on 91 minutes.
It was Boniface’s first goal since returning from a three months injury.
Speaking after the hard-fought win, Alonso singled out the substitutes for the role they played in the win.
“We are happy with the result and the performance,” Alonso said after the match.
“It was not an easy game to create chances in. They played very deep. We waited for our moment, it was a little late but the players from the bench had a big impact tonight.”
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The Spaniard said he expects a different approach from West Ham in the return leg next Thursday.
“They will play very differently next week at home,” Alonso added. “They have nothing to lose. We have time to prepare and will be ready to fight for a place in the semi finals.”
Leverkusen have now gone 42 games unbeaten in all competitions this season.
Up next for Leverkusen is this weekend’s Bundesliga home game against Werder Bremen.
A win for Leverkusen will see them clinch the Bundesliga title for the first time ever.
They are also in the running for the treble as they can add the Europa League and German Cup to the Bundesliga title.
For the German Cup, they will take on lower division outfit Kaiserslautern on 5 May 2024 inside the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
