Heynckes challenges Leverkusen to rise

(GSM) – Bayer Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes has laid challenged his side to win all of their remaining league games and lift the Bundesliga title this season.

The BayArena giants dropped to third in the league table a fortnight ago when they lost for the first time all season, but they bounced back with a stunning 4-2 win over Hamburger SV

And coach Heynckes believes his side are capable of picking up all points against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

Heynckes said: “We have eight cup finals ahead of us.

“Everybody now has to push themselves to their limits and even go beyond them.

“This is a great opportunity for us to achieve goals which were unthinkable before the season.”

Dortmund would not have bet their house on finishing in the top five either, yet they have the chance to reduce the gap on third-placed Bayer Leverkusen to just five points with a win tomorrow, and could then start to aim for a place in the Champions League next season.

That talk was dismissed when coach Jurgen Klopp was confronted with it at the pre-match press conference, though.

“We should not let thoughts like that divert attention from our own tasks,” he said.

“We are only concentrating on this game and not the long-term goals.”

Over 80,000 fans are expected to fill the Westfalen Stadion on Saturday and Klopp insists the fans can also play their part in inflicting the second defeat of the season upon Leverkusen.

“We have a home game and we have got to make sure that can be felt from the very first minute,” he said.

“Then we can win this game.”

Klopp is set to name an unchanged team while Heynckes has Toni Kroos and Stefan Reinartz available again after suspension. They should take the places of Renato Augusto and Michal Kadlec in the team.