Ahead of last week’s first leg at the Stadio Olimpico, the thinking was that there would be very little to split these two sides and that indeed proved to be the case.
Hosts Lazio edged the encounter 1-0, but it is only a slender lead as they prepare for the second leg of theChampions League qualifier at the Bay Arena tomorrow night.
From two matches, the men in red and black stripes have collected six points courtesy of victories over Hoffenheim and Hannover.
However, the blot on their 2015-16 copybook came in the Stadio Olimpico a week ago. Schmidt made it clear in the days leading up the game that an away goal was crucial, but despite creating a number of chances, it never materialised.Nevertheless, speaking after that game, the Leverkusen boss told reporters: “It was an intense match. We had several opportunities to score, but we weren’t able to do so. However, Lazio did – they have a strong team. Now we have the return match where we will try to overturn this result.”
Ahead of the home tie, we will work on our counter-attacking and on our defensive game. We will do our best. We have worked well in recent weeks and we are pretty confident.”They have a positive recent European home record to fall back on, having come out victorious on four of their previous five outings in front of their own supporters.
When Miroslav Klose picked up an injury in the first leg, it was initially viewed as a disaster for Lazio. But, the German striker’s absence turned out to be a blessing in disguise because his replacement – Keita Balde Diao – ended up scoring the only goal of the game.
Yet, despite the victory, head coach Stefano Pioli has admitted that his side will need to make improvements for this encounter if Le Aquile are to appear in the group stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2007.
“It was a difficult and complicated match. Leverkusen played direct and aggressive football. We made some mistakes, but playing Leverkusen is not easy. We could have scored more but the result is certainly positive,” he told reporters.
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