Lazio coach admits Leverkusen deserve their place in Champions League group stage

Date: 26th August 2015 at 11:32pm
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Bayer Leverkusen ended Lazio hopes of reaching the Champions League group stages on Wednesday night and coach Stefano Pioli admitted that the Bundesliga side were a level above his team.

The Biancocelesti entered the match with a one goal lead from the first-leg, but the German side went ahead on aggregate just after half-time through goals from Hakan Calhanoglu and Admir Mehemedi, before Karim Bellerabi completed the 3-0 victory late on.

“We lost the match,” admitted Pioli to Mediaset Premium.

“Bayer played with more pace and more intensity. They deserved to win.

“There will not be any changes [at Lazio], but this proves that we are not ready to fight on three fronts, however, we still have the league and Coppa Italia.

“We still have many things to improve, we will have to take them back and work on them.

“It is certainly disappointing [that an Italian team exits at the play-off for a fourth time in five years], but it is a different kind of football.

“Bayer have proven tonight they are superior. Our journey is still at its beginning because this match tells us that our opponents in the Champions League are at these levels [and we are not].

“It was not that our formation was overly cautious. We had to circulate the ball more with our opponents playing at a faster pace.”

 

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