A perfect mixture of talents, established forces, unwavering team spirit and a coach triggering the team’s best make Bayer Leverkusen ride the wave in the German national league, club-icon Stefan Kiessling told Xinhua in a recent interview.
The 40-year-old former striker said the team of Spanish star coach Xabi Alonso is determined to continue its successful journey after setting a new league record remaining unbeaten in 34 consecutive games.
“We are happy about the record and are pleased to have conquered a spot in the history books but are aware that in the end, only titles count,” the former German international said.
Having scored 162 goals in 444 competitive games for Leverkusen, Kiessling praised the first-flight team’s strategy “to always focus on the upcoming games and follow a step-by-step policy.”
The team is gaining stability out of this pattern as “Granit Xhaka is the one giving us sovereignty and structure due to his vast experience.”
The contribution of young and hungry talents and an experienced coach bringing out the team’s best performance complete the picture, said the 2012-2013 Bundesliga season’s top-scorer (25 goals).
Staying calm is a vital key to winning the club’s first national league title “as you always have to be mentally prepared to lose a game and continue your way.”
“We are in the middle of a season still enjoying several opportunities to win titles,” Kiessling said. That requires a cool mind and the entire squad’s concentration.
“I hope for the German Cup final but know the national Cup can be tricky as we lately saw surprising results of underdogs beating the favoured sides.”
The challenge is to perform in all three competitions, including the Europa League, he said after having played from 2006 to 2018 in the Leverkusen shirt.
Kiessling attracted additional attention in the 2013-2014 season when scoring the so-called “phantom goal” in a league encounter against Hoffenheim in October when his header hit the goal net from the outside while the ball went inside through a tiny hole.
The incident triggered efforts to improve the VAR system.
Kiessling said the German national team might currently be short of pure box strikers aside from Dortmund’s Niclas Fullkrug on their way to the 2024 Euros but has a wide range of high-quality players in other positions.
He expects a satisfying performance at the tournament on home soil in the summer.
