Xabi Alonso hopes Leverkusen will regain courage and confidence after learning from setbacks

"Pharmaceutical Factory" Leverkusen will travel to challenge Heidenheim in the new round of the Bundesliga. Coach Xabi Alonso said that the team must learn from setbacks and past losses, and must also regain courage and confidence in ball control.

In the last round of the league, Leverkusen defeated Bochum 3-1 at the BayArena with goals from Alex Garcia, Boniface and Amin Adli.

After achieving 4 wins and 1 loss in the last 5 rounds, Leverkusen currently ranks second in the standings with 59 points, temporarily 9 points behind the leader Bayern Munich who played earlier.

However, in the earlier German Cup semi-final, Leverkusen unexpectedly lost 1-2 to Bielefeld of the German Third League away from home, missing the chance to advance to the final to compete for the championship. In the previous UEFA Champions League round of 16, they were eliminated by Bayern Munich.

Talking about the team's recent experience, Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said, "After being eliminated from the German Cup, we are currently in a different stage and all our attention is on the league. Our current position in the standings is still very competitive, and there are only seven games left. We want to be prepared for every game, and our goal is to win them all."

"We have all been talking in recent days and sharing our emotions. The focus of our conversations has been on mentality and courage, and it is normal to feel pain after such a disappointing game. We have rarely experienced such setbacks in the past 25 months, but this is a lesson that needs to be learned for me and the team. It would be foolish not to learn from it."

Xabi Alonso stressed, "From now on, we have to refocus on football itself and the game against Heidenheim. We hope to make a clear response. To do this, we must regain our confidence in possession of the ball and our smooth passing."

"We expect it to be a tough game against a tough opponent, similar to the one we played against Bochum last week. They are fighting to avoid relegation and we have to be aware of that."