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Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen host Portuguese side Benfica in Germany on Thursday night
in the first knockout stage of the Europa League.
Leverkusen currently sit third in the Bundesliga and progressed to the competition's round
of 32 after finishing second in Group K.
The fixture will be Benfica's first Europa League game of the season, having finished
third in Champions League Group G, and joint Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypia picks out a few
of their players to watch out for.
"Luisao is one of the players I have played against when I was still active. And of course
(Ezequiel) Garay is well known. (Oscar) Cardozo is a very good goal-getter and then there
are all these young players, who are probably not that well known to the public, but we
have seen scenes from some matches. And these scenes have shown that all their players have
very good technical skills. And they are fast and very strong when it comes to one-on-one
situations."
The German side secured five clean sheets from their six group matches and will be eager
to show similar defensive resolve when Benfica arrive at the BayArena on Thursday.