Most recently, Sardar Azmoun (27) was still in the stands in Leverkusen’s 3-0 home win over Arminia Bielefeld. The Iranian can look forward to a place in the Werkself squad for the first time in the away game at Bayern on Saturday (3:30 p.m.).
“Of course he has the chance to go with us,” said Bayer coach Gerardo Seoane (43) before the final training session on Friday afternoon about the debut chances of his new striker, who only just before the end of the winter transfer window from Zenit St. Petersburg to Leverkusen came.
Sardar Azmoun was still in the stands as a spectator during the 3-0 win over BielefeldPhoto: Andreas Pohl
“He has now had ten days of advanced training and is not yet at the level to play from the start,” said Seoane, “he had four weeks of vacation, Corona and four weeks of injury break. He already has a few training sessions in his legs to reach his best level. We are happy that he did so well this week, he is free of symptoms and was therefore able to complete most parts of the training with the necessary intensity. But of course you can still see certain deficits.”
Nevertheless: After the absence of Patrik Schick (26/torn calf muscle), Azmoun is extremely important as an additional attacking option. Especially since Karim Bellarabi (31) is still in individual training after tearing his thighbone.
Robert Andrich (27), who had only trained individually this week so far, is still very questionable – a knee irritation is still causing problems for the midfield clearer. Seoane: “We’ll see if he can keep up with the load in the final training session and if he can be an option.”
Andrich shouldn’t be an issue at all for the starting lineup in Munich. Which, given the selection with Charles Aránguiz (32), Kerem Demirbay (28) and Exequiel Palacios (23) in defensive midfield, could also be coped with – it looked very different in the 1: 5 debacle in the first leg…
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