West Ham manager David Moyes has joked that he hopes Victor Boniface and his Bayer Leverkusen teammates will still be in a daze going into tonight’s UEFA Europa League quarterfinal second leg after they would have drank lots of beer during the massive celebrations that followed their first-ever Bundesliga conquest.
On Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen celebrated after they won the Bundesliga championship for the first time in their history.
Tonight, West Ham will hope to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg in Germany to qualify for the semifinal of the Europa League and in the process end Leverkusen 43-game unbeaten run.
“I hope they drank giant, XXL-sized pints (of beer) like you get in Germany,” Moyes threw a jibe at Bayer Leverkusen.
“Why not celebrate winning the championship? You must celebrate it. You have to take advantage of it because these moments go by so fast.”
He added more seriously: “It is obvious that we must do a very good job, if we can. We played well in the first match. It wasn’t enough. This is what happens when you play against the big teams, against Arsenal or Manchester City. We must find ways to obtain results.
“We put in a lot of effort last week. We came very close and we will try again.”
