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Rolfes: "Given the challenges we have had, we now have a very good squad"

Bayer 04 Leverkusen managing director for sport Simon Rolfes spoke to the media outside the BayArena, ahead of the UEFA Champions League match in Denmark against FC København tomorrow evening (18:45 CET).

The first topic Rolfes was asked about was the impact that the match has on Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand. Rolfes said, “I think Kasper [Hjulmand] is extremely happy. In the first call that we had, I immediately told him: 'the first away match in the Champions League is in Copenhagen, right on your doorstep - you are probably more prepared for it than anyone else'.”

“These are exactly the kind of things that make it extraordinary,” he added. “Football lives from emotions, from stories, special moments, each and every one. For him, this is a special moment; also for us, because it is the Champions League - for Kasper, after such a short time, to face Copenhagen has to be special.”

Rolfes was also asked about the club's 3-1 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt over the weekend, in which Leverkusen went down to nine men but managed to score from two Alejandro Grimaldo free kicks, one that deflected off Michael Zetterer and the other into the top-right corner.

“What we saw on Friday was more clarity, also intensity,” Rolfes said about the result. “That was something we really did not like before. In the end, our game is about success, and of course we want to dominate matches in possession, but you need intensity and the want to run fast.”

“On Friday we showed that we can succeed, even with two players less, in a situation that we really do not want to be in. But that is the basic foundation of a successful team; then comes structure, and how we also defend together,” he went on.

“From there, we can start to talk about how we try to attack, about shaping and dominating. But the basics, that is our focus in the first days. And with Kasper [Hjulmand], all I have seen from the team is good reactions and understanding.”

Lastly, Rolfes was asked about the summer transfer window and how it affected the squad, as well as how the players will fit under Kasper Hjulmand as coach.

“Kasper is very happy with the squad - otherwise he would not have taken the job,” Rolfes stated. “But also, what is he even supposed to say now - the transfer window is over!”

“I am very satisfied with the squad. It was an intense summer, also with the transfers and the number of players that left and entered - it was a wild ride, that is clear,” he said.

“We observed during the process how one player or another developed, how the new signings adapt, where we may have to slightly adjust, where we may need to add more emphasis. In the end, I am very satisfied.”

Rolfes concluded: “Over the next years, the core of the team will be more set, and in addition, more players will be present at the very start of preseason. But given the challenges that we have had, we now have a very good squad, not only for this season, but also for the years ahead.”