Today at 2:45 p.m. Bayer Leverkusen will host Shakhtar Donetsk in UEFA Champions League Group A play at Bay Arena Germany. Live stream the important match by clicking this link.
Shakhtar is 1-1-0 in Group A so far and on top of the group standings, while Leverkusen has one win and one loss. Leverkusen won their last Champions League match, against Real Sociedad, but coach Sami Hyppia is warning his club that Shakhtar will be no cupcake.
"Shakhtar have a good team and great individual quality," Hyppia warned during a press conference. "They have lots of variety in attack and often switch positions. They are better going forward than defending. It will be important to communicate a lot and stay strong at the back."
That has been an issue for Leverkusen, who have given up five goals in two games of group play, and currently stand in the negative in terms of goal differential. In particular, they will need to be wary of Alex Teixeira, who leads Shakhtar with two goals. He scored two goals all of last year, and mustered a total of three shots on goal. In 2013-2014, he's matched that scoring output, as well as the shots on goal. He's attempted five shots already this season, four away from the nine he took in seven games last year.
Leverkusen goalie Bernd Leno is aware of their creative attack as well. "We could lay a good foundation (for progression, but) Shakhtar are a tough cookie. It will be a very hard game."
Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu said, "I have a lot of confidence in my team when we play in the Champions League." He then told Shakhtar magazine these games are less worrisome to him, possibly because conditions and motivation are more conducive to strong play than in other competition.
"I'm much more concerned about the Ukrainian Premier League games. It is hard to mobilize the players in the environment we sometimes have to play, with not very good pitches, half-empty stadiums."
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