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One of the leaders of the team, Spaniard Luis Garcia, believes that the club can play in the Champions League next year, even if they fail to climb to fourth place in England. Garcia believes that "Liverpool" is capable of winning the most prestigious tournament in Europe, especially remembering last year when no one could even think that they would be titled the strongest club team on the old continent.
Currently, "Liverpool" is eight points behind the footballers in fourth place in the Premier League with only 11 games left to play. It is hard to expect the situation to change drastically, so the only opportunity to play in the Champions League next year is to win this tournament. "Porto did it, why can't we do it too? In football, surprises happen every season. We have great players, a great coach, so I believe it is really possible," said Luis Garcia.
Englishmen are traveling to Leverkusen with a two-goal advantage after the first leg. Remember that the match at Anfield Stadium ended with a 3-1 result. "Liverpool" hopes to maintain this result and reach the quarterfinals.
On the other hand, "Leverkusen" won all three group stage matches at home and scored three goals in each, while "Liverpool" performs poorly away.
"At home, they defeated Real Madrid 3-0, showing how strong the team is when playing at home. Therefore, we will have to defend very seriously for the full 90 minutes. But if we forget the past and play calmly, I think everything will be fine," said the Spanish goalkeeper.
Jerzy Dudek's mistake in the dying moments of the first leg allowed the Germans to score a goal, so now they only need two, not three accurate shots.
Speaking about the first leg, Garcia said: "Yes, Jerzy made a mistake, but he is a great goalkeeper, otherwise he simply wouldn't play for Liverpool. I think we will score an away goal and secure a place in the quarterfinals."
Possible lineups:
"Liverpool" (4-5-1) Dudek, Riise, Carragher, Hyypia, Finnan, Hamann, Biscan, Welsh, Gerrard, Garcia, Baros.
"Bayer" (4-4-2) Butt, Castro, Callsen-Bracker, Placente, Schneider, Ramelow, Babic, Bierofka, Krzynowek, Voronin, Berbatov.
