In the fifth round of the Champions League early this morning, Leverkusen defeated Manchester City 2-0 away from home. Leverkusen goalkeeper Flecken was interviewed after the game.
Manchester City made a large-scale rotation today. What do you think of this game?
This is undoubtedly a difficult game. When we know there are so many changes to the opponent's starting lineup, the way to prepare for the game is completely different. Of course, this also gives us the opportunity to go into the game with an open mind and believe that we can gain something.
Does Leverkusen deserve this victory?
The team played very well and I want to say that we deserve these 3 points. The opponent's lineup is indeed surprising, but we have encountered a similar situation before in the Bundesliga against Bayern, but in that game we made mistakes because our defense was too passive and we did not have the courage to control the ball. We learned a lot from that game and today’s game was completely different.
What courage do you mean?
We have enough courage to attack forward and play our own style of play. I think that's the most important thing, that we show our true selves.
Your performance in defense today
We paid great attention to the sense of urgency in defense today, constantly pursuing the defense, and trying to block every shot of the opponent as much as possible, especially in the second half, this happened many times.
You successfully kept a clean sheet against your opponent and was elected as the best player of the game.
As a goalkeeper, if you can make key saves one after another during the game, then you will really have the feeling of "I will not concede the ball today" and you seem to be able to control every ball that flies towards the goal. That's what happened today. It's great to experience a game like this, but it's not just my personal credit, it's the whole team who played a great game. We were delighted to go home with 3 points.
Can Leverkusen reach the top eight of the Champions League and advance directly to the knockout rounds?
This will be very difficult. We still have some difficult opponents ahead, but we will deal with them one game at a time. We will try our best to win the next game against Newcastle.