Bayer Leverkusen host AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, hoping for a sparkling performance from star midfielder Florian Wirtz.<\/p>\n
Still just 21, Wirtz will make his home debut in the competition, having missed Leverkusen\u2019s most recent Champions League campaign with an ACL injury.<\/p>\n
That he will do so against seven-time champions Milan feels appropriate for a player tipped for a long career on the European stage.<\/p>\n
Leverkusen\u2019s squad is deep in quality and Xabi Alonso\u2019s coaching is rightly praised, but Wirtz\u2019s spark is central to everything the team does.<\/p>\n
Known primarily for his midfield creativity, he is also a goal threat; Wirtz has four goals in five league games this season.<\/p>\n
In a team featuring Granit Xhaka, Victor Boniface, Patrik Schick, Alex Grimaldo and Exequiel Palacios, Wirtz is trusted enough to be Leverkusen\u2019s designated penalty taker.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Allow Flo to shine\u2019 \u2013
\nWirtz\u2019s talent is undeniable and despite playing a crucial role as Leverkusen broke through for a debut Bundesliga title, he still has a point to prove in European competition.<\/p>\n
He was muscled out in last year\u2019s Europa League final, won 3-0 by Atalanta in Leverkusen\u2019s only loss of a 53-game season.<\/p>\n
Bayern Munich adopted a similar approach in Saturday\u2019s 1-1 Bundesliga draw, successfully denting Leverkusen\u2019s creativity by heavily marking the star midfielder.<\/p>\n
When Wirtz can free himself from the heavy attention, he is among the most dangerous players in the game.<\/p>\n
In Leverkusen\u2019s Champions League opener at Feyenoord \u2014 Wirtz\u2019s first match in the competition \u2014 he scored a first-half double in a dominant 4-0 win.<\/p>\n
At 1.77-metres tall, Wirtz will never be the most physical player, something Alonso knows from personal experience as a similarly proportioned midfielder.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Friday, Alonso said the whole team had the responsibility for unleashing \u201cthe best Flo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He can\u2019t \u201cgo it alone,\u201d Alonso said, adding \u201cwe need the whole team on their best level to allow Flo to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 The 150 million euro man \u2013
\nAs expected for a starlet at a club of Leverkusen\u2019s stature, rumours have already linked Wirtz, who has a contract until 2027, with an exit from the club perhaps as early as next summer.<\/p>\n
Earlier in 2024, Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro said he would \u201cnever let Wirtz go for less than 150 million euros ($167 million)\u201d.<\/p>\n
Known for shooting from the hip, Carro later apologised, saying he \u201cmade a mistake\u201d and explaining \u201cwe want to keep Florian Wirtz with us for as long as possible\u2026 he doesn\u2019t have a price tag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Real Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal are reportedly among the interested parties, but German giants Bayern are also set to push hard to sign Wirtz.<\/p>\n
Bayern are long-term admirers of the midfielder and want to have him line up alongside Germany teammate Jamal Musiala as they do so well at international level.<\/p>\n
Wearing a bright smile, Bayern\u2019s goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer told Sky Germany he would \u201cprefer to play with both together in the same team.\u201d<\/p>\n
A star showing on the international stage will continue to enhance the demand for Wirtz\u2019s services \u2014 and magnify the sum Leverkusen could receive in return.<\/p>\n
The post Leverkusen back main man Wirtz to \u2018shine\u2019 on European stage<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Leverkusen back main man Wirtz to \u2018shine\u2019 on European stage<\/a> appeared first on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bayer Leverkusen host AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, hoping for a sparkling performance from star midfielder Florian Wirtz. Still just 21, Wirtz will make his home debut in the competition, having missed Leverkusen\u2019s most recent Champions League campaign with an ACL injury. That he will do so against seven-time champions Milan feels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}