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Well, as I’ve already said many times,
I feel very good here,
because I just know everybody here,
it’s a very familiar feeling,
what I have here with the employees and the many fans
I know personally.
This is very important for me,
and that makes me feel very good here.
He’s one of Europe’s most in-form strikers,
and having finished top of the scoring charts domestically
in the Bundesliga last term,
Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s Stefan Kiessling
is now aiming to impress on the European stage
in the UEFA Champions League.
Well two years ago was my first time
playing in the Champions League,
and it was just such a great feeling
to not just be watching on TV,
but to be there standing there on the pitch myself.
It didn’t work out so well for us,
especially our last two matches.
But it was certainly a motivation to say that
we wanted to make it back there and qualify,
and that is what we managed to achieve last season.
Kiessling’s 25 goals fired Leverkusen to 3rd in Germany,
ensuring a return to Europe’s top table
after a one season absence.
Joint managers Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä
masterminded the success, with the latter,
a winner of the UEFA Champions League
as a player with Liverpool, now solely in charge.
I think very well, he has been doing a great job.
Last season there were two coaches, and the job was split,
but now with him being the only head coach here,
still having his assistant coaches of course,
but now you can see that he’s coming out of himself more.
You can see that he is enjoying it,
and that he wants to achieve a lot with us.
Another strong start domestically points
to a season of promise for Leverkusen,
who followed up defeat at Manchester United
on matchday one in the UEFA Champions League
with a win over Real Sociedad last time out.
That success made it 7 victories in a row at home
in the group stage of the competition,
with Shakhtar Donetsk next to visit fortress BayArena.
Well it has been great fun here in recent years,
playing in the BayArena.
For me it is the greatest thing to play here at home.
And then if you’re even playing a Champions League match,
under floodlights, then we all look forward to it very much,
the players and the fans.
You can feel the great atmosphere from the beginning,
and that reflects onto the pitch.
It doesn’t matter where you’re sitting,
the atmosphere is always great.