Guardiola wary of aggressive Leverkusen

​Pep Guardiola expects his Bayern Munich side to face an aggressive challenge from Bayer Leverkusen at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

Bayern are yet to suffer defeat in the Bundesliga this season, with the defending champions leading the league by seven points from nearest challengers Wolfsburg after 13 games.

However, they now face one of their toughest tests of the campaign against a Leverkusen side in good form under coach Roger Schmidt.

And the former Barcelona boss is under no illusions as to the challenge Bayern will face when third-placed Leverkusen visit Bavaria.

“I am big, big fan of this team, their coach and their style of play,” Guardiola said.

“I’m sure they’ll come here and play to their ability to press. We will have little time to think. The game is very important for us and the rest of the Bundesliga.”

Guardiola identified Leverkusen’s set-piece specialist Hakan Calhanoglu as the visitors’ main threat and urged his players to keep the ball away from their own box to avoid falling victim to the Turkey international.

“He [Calhanoglu] is one of the best free-kick takers in the Bundesliga,” Guardiola added. “Therefore we must keep the game away from our goal. We will need our best performance.”