"You wait so long to play the first game in 2026 and you show up like that - it's not at the level. Especially off the ball. It's all good having the ball, trying to play, but it's what you do off the ball. We have to show a lot more fight."
""It should have been that we were fired up again. It shouldn't take conceding any goal. That fire should have been in us from the start. Especially in front of our own fans - we can only apologise to them, to be honest. "Everybody saw the performance, we didn't show any fight. When you don't show fight, that's where it goes wrong.""
"We know we can play great football, we've done it against the best teams. But the best teams show what it means to get three points and to win, so we have to take this feeling now and use it as fire."
Bayer Leverkusen were beaten 4-1 at home by Stuttgart in their first Bundesliga match after the winter break, conceding three first-half goals and entering the interval 4-0 down. Jamie Leweling, Deniz Undav and Maximilian Mittelstadt contributed to a dominant first-half performance that represented Stuttgart's largest half-time lead in the league since September 1982. Alejandro Garnacho pulled one goal back in the second half, but Leverkusen never mounted a comeback. Leverkusen displayed insufficient off-the-ball intensity, lacked fight and failed to win duels, and must respond with grit and determination in the upcoming match against Hamburg.
Read at Soccer News
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