Thanks to a 2-1 victory over Schalke 04, Bayer Leverkusen retain their lead at the top of the Bundesliga table.
“It was a feat of strength, says the Bayer and Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler, speaking to bundesliga.de about the hard fought victory with evident satisfaction. Leverkusen are not talking about the title just yet, but in the backs of their minds the possibility is already being dreamt of.
bundesliga.de: Congratulations on your victory in this top-of-the-table clash. After several displays of brilliance in the previous weeks this came down to sheer work.
Rene Adler: Without question it was a hard-fought victory. It was a feat of strength, a win we had to grind out. Particularly after the second yellow for “Gonzo (Gonzalo Castro, ed.), which was a sacrifice he made for the sake of the team, every man gave his all for everyone else. That was our great strength. Certainly, there was some luck there as well.
bundesliga.de: What did you do better against Schalke than against Karlsruher SC, when Bayer managed to squander a 3-0 lead?
Adler: We analyzed the game against Karlsruhe very closely. We did manage to play a very good first half against Karlsruhe, as well. Our strategy and our start to the game were just as good against Schalke. But in Karlsruhe we delivered a poor performance in the second half. Perhaps things got too easy for us after the first half. Many players certainly lost their focus. And Karlsruher SC are too good for that. Their team is better than their position in the table would suggest. Afterwards we sat together and asked ourselves what we were aiming for. Did we want to stay in first place or get pulled down with the type of performance we showed in the second half against KSC? We all agreed that we wanted to stay on top. We demonstrated that clearly against Schalke. We wanted to defend our spot at the top of the table at all costs.
bundesliga.de: And you succeeded. You might get accustomed to your lead in the table. How is life in the lead?
Adler: Well it's a great feeling, certainly. Our coach is constantly reminding us of how it feels to be on the sunny side of the table and above all in first place. We will defend this spot tooth and nail.
bundesliga.de: You have the chance to make history this season at Leverkusen, if Bayer become German champions for the first time. As a player, do you think about that?
Adler: As individuals and as a team we do keep that in the back of our minds. Nevertheless, we don't want to talk about the championship just yet. We know that there is still a long way to go in the season. A lot is going to happen. As banal as it may sound, we are taking it game-by-game and want to concentrate on maintaining our lead for the time being. If we continue playing as we did against Schalke, we have the chance of staying up there for some time.
bundesliga.de: Looking at Bayer's remaining fixtures for the first half of the season - in Bielefeld, against Bayern Munich, in Mönchengladbach and against Cottbus - a top place finish over the winter break looks attainable. Is there a danger there that you might underestimate teams from the bottom half of the table?
Adler: We'll do our best not to underestimate any team. We will approach every game with the utmost concentration. Three points against Bielefeld count just the same as three points against Schalke or Bayern. We want to take points in the competition for spots in international play. As far as that's concerned, we've put some distance between ourselves and one of our rivals. That is our goal. We don't talk about Bayern. At the moment it will be all about the national team and then we want to grab three points against Bielefeld.
Interview: Tobias Gonscherowski / Translation: Gideon Stanton
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