Leverkusen boss Hjulmand brushes off fatigue talk
Kasper Hjulmand is not looking for any excuses as he shrugged off concern over fatigue ahead of Bayer Leverkusen's clash with Augsburg in the Bundesliga this weekend.
Leverkusen heads to Augsburg on Sunday (AEDT). It will mark its fifth game in the space of 14 days across all competitions.
Hjulmand's team has won three of its four games since the end of the November international break, beating Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League and Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal.
Leverkusen went down 2-1 at home to Dortmund in the league last week, though, leaving it in fourth place heading into this round of fixtures.
Hjulmand is anticipating a physical test against an Augsburg team that is 14th in the standings, but he did not want fixture congestion to come into his team's thoughts.
"We're not tired, we love games," the Dane said.
"Of course, an away game at Augsburg is always difficult and intense. They've shown against Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Stuttgart that they can hold their own against top teams.
"We're absolutely ready and we’ll give our all again right to the end.
"It is very important to keep clocking up points in the last games of the year."
Augsburg is under new management, with Manuel Baum having replaced Sandro Wagner in the hot seat.
Baum will be in charge until at least the end of 2025.
"When a change of coach happens, sometimes everyone at a club pulls a bit closer together," Hjulmand said.
"But it doesn't have such a big impact on us, in the build-up we focus and concentrate 80 to 90 per cent on our own game. The rest relates to the opponents and the associated individual tactical issues."
































