AS Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell reacted to the club’s Europa League draw on Monday. The Principality side will face German side Bayer Leverkusen in round of 16, a team now managed by Xabi Alonso.
Asked for his reaction to the draw, Mitchell replied: “I think it’s an exciting draw. Their league position is a little bit false, to be honest. I spend time in Germany, they were always a great rival of ours at RB Leipzig. They were always fighting for the podium, fighting for the top four. I actually, fortunately, and maybe intuitively was there last week for their game against Club Bruges. So I have seen first hand the quality they have. They’ve just changed coach to Alonso, so they have someone implementing a different style and they’ve just had a massive win against Union Berlin at the weekend, who are having a fantastic season. It will be a tough challenge, but I think it will be an exciting game.”
Asked by GFFN’s Luke Entwistle whether Leverkusen represent a somewhat unknown entity given their recent managerial change, Mitchell replied, “Everyone is going to get this kind of micro pre-season again. That will give [Xabi Alonso] time on the grass with his team. Any new coach wants as much of that as they possibly can. I think we’ll see a different Leverkusen in the second half of the season when we play them. Seeing the quality of their squad list, and the dynamism of their team, it’s going to be a tough challenge for us for sure.”
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