Leipzig’s right-back Benjamin Henrichs faces a duel with his training club Bayer Leverkusen. The 26-year-old attributes the Werkself’s soaring to one reason in particular.
Strong kicker grade average of 2.91 in the Bundesliga: Benjamin Henrichs has matured into a top performer. IMAGO/Picture Point LE
On Saturday (6.30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker) Benjamin Henrichs and RB Leipzig will face Bayer Leverkusen – the club where he grew up and which is his home. The defender played for the Werkself from 2004 to 2018 before moving to AS Monaco in 2018 and Leipzig in 2020. That’s why Saturday’s game is “extremely special” for Henrichs, as he says in the kicker interview (Thursday edition).
The Leipzig right-back treats the league leaders with great respect. “I’m currently experiencing the strongest Bayer Leverkusen I’ve ever seen,” he says, “Bayer is scoring points and consistently playing at a high level. This will be a very, very difficult game for us.” The 26-year-old sees the reasons for his former club’s success in the coach.
The 0-1 loss against Frankfurt “was very annoying”
“I think that Xabi Alonso has a lot of influence on it. They also simply played in a flow,” emphasizes Henrichs, “not having lost a game in the entire first half of the season simply speaks for it. The last game in Augsburg in particular showed what sets Bayer apart this year. They are consistently doing their thing.”
Henrichs and RB still want to leave the field as winners on Saturday. However, the Saxons botched the start of the new year with a 0-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt. “Against Frankfurt we had 31 shots on goal, but we weren’t consistent in the crucial situations. The result was “very annoying, but we want to do better against Leverkusen,” Henrichs makes clear.
Henrichs also speaks in kicker this Thursday (or from Wednesday evening in eMagazine) about RB’s title readiness, the upheaval, his role as a top performer and his chances of being part of national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s European Championship squad in the summer.
2024-01-17 20:43:57
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