Bayer Leverkusen has been the positive surprise of the season so far. Werkself attacker Amine Adli spoke to t-online about what makes coach Xabi Alonso special and what the young Moroccan regrets.
Three games, three wins: Bayer Leverkusen started the Bundesliga season with a maximum of nine points. On Friday evening, coach Xabi Alonso’s team will face the only other team in the German upper house that has also won all of its previous games. The Werkself face the big FC Bayern in the BayArena (from 8:30 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online).
The Munich team was reportedly also interested in a young Leverkusen star: Amine Adli. The 23-year-old decided to go to the Rhineland. And to this day I haven’t regretted it. Adli also talks to t-online about his coach Xabi Alonso, which action from the previous season still bothers him and what he thinks about the many moves of top stars to Saudi Arabia.
t-online: Mr. Adli, Bayer Leverkusen got off to a perfect start to the season with nine points from three games. The next Bundesliga game is the top game against FC Bayern in mid-September. The German record champions were apparently also interested in you. Did you make the right decision with Leverkusen?
Amine Adli: In any case. At Leverkusen I was given the chance to get a lot of playing time early on. This allowed me to improve significantly. If you want to develop, you have to play. That might not have been possible so quickly at FC Bayern, so it was a good decision for me. Especially since Leverkusen plays for the top places in the league every year. That’s why I’m just focused on my tasks here.
You were unable to take part this season due to a red card on the last matchday of last season. Are you still angry with yourself because of the assault against Dominique Heintz from Bochum?
I’m still angry and continue to think about this mistake that cost me the first Bundesliga games this season. But now I have to learn to forget that. I apologized to my team, the opponent and the referee. I also talked to the coach. He forgave me for this faux pas.
Last season, Leverkusen collected seven red cards, the most in the entire season. No team has seen so many dismissals since Mainz 05 in 2017. Does the team have a better grip on itself in the new season?
We are all people whose emotions can sometimes play tricks on the pitch. In some situations this can be too much. Then you do stupid things because you can’t control yourself right now. But the same applies here: We have to learn from it and, if possible, not make these mistakes again.
There was a strange situation with you and referee Tobias Stieler last season. In the game against FC Bayern, he showed you the yellow card twice for a swallow, but then corrected his decision with the help of video evidence and decided on a penalty for Bayer in each case. Afterwards you promised him your jersey. Did he ever receive this?
I think he got my jersey (laughs). I definitely signed one and had it sent to him.
Referees are under enormous pressure. Are the referees not valued enough?
You have an extremely difficult job, no question about it. As a player you should always be aware of this and respect it. Nevertheless, there are also emotional arguments between referees and footballers on the pitch. Sometimes you don’t really understand each other. This needs to be improved in the future. But football is on the right track.
2023-09-14 17:04:27
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