Xabi Alonso was happy 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 gained all 4 of their earlier league video games underneath Vincent Kompany, had 18 photographs to Leverkusen’s three and virtually 70% of the possession.
That’s the fewest photographs Leverkusen have tried in any of their 98 aggressive matches underneath Alonso, whereas in addition they generated simply 0.07 anticipated objectives (xG) to Bayern’s 1.32.
Regardless of their lack of attacking risk, Alonso was delighted along with his aspect’s defensive resilience, saying: “The vitality and perception at Bayern is totally different to final season, they’re going full throttle with and in opposition to the ball.
“That was very powerful at the moment. We may be pleased with the purpose. I wanted extra vitality from the workforce.
“I’m pleased with that. We had been able to endure and we did that. We want the self-discipline and keenness of the gamers.
“It wasn’t simple, we didn’t have management of the ball. It was a problem to defend. The purpose is necessary… The entire workforce did very effectively. We hardly had an opportunity to breathe however I’m very happy with my gamers.”
Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka, who offered the help for the opener, mentioned their primary technique was to be compact and deny Bayern alternatives to attain.
“We’re self-critical. In the event you rating three objectives each recreation, that’s not sufficient. If we play effectively at the moment and change gears, we will do one thing,” Xhaka mentioned.
“Defensively, we put in an excellent efficiency. The objective at the moment was to be compact and concede little. You may actually do extra with the ball and everybody is aware of that we will do extra. If somebody had informed us earlier than the sport that we might get some extent, we might have taken it.”
Leverkusen will subsequent flip their consideration to the Champions League, after they host AC Milan on Tuesday.
