Leverkusen set to wear ski masks against Trondheim

Bundesliga side Leverkusen are set to wear ski masks for Wednesday’s Europa League game in Group B against Norway’s Rosenborg Trondheim with sub-zero temperatures expected.

The players trained with the masks on Tuesday in their final session at Lerkendal Stadium and have faced freezing temperatures since they arrived in Norway.

Leverkusen beat Trondheim 4-0 in the first leg on September 16 in the warmth of early autumn in Germany, but coach Jupp Heynckes expects very different weather in the frosty second leg.

“We expect incredibly difficult conditions,” said Heynckes.

“We will most likely have minus 15 degrees (celsius) and the ground will be frozen hard, the players will need to adapt.

However ex-Liverpool centre-back Sami Hyypia is expecting few personal problems coping with the intense cold.

“The cold is no problem for me, I am from Finland,” he said.