Hyypia wants Bayer to draw Reds

Hyypia wants Bayer to draw Reds

Published Mar. 9, 2011 5:05 p.m. ET

Bayer Leverkusen host Villarreal in the Europa League on Thursday with Sami Hyypia already eyeing a potential quarter-final tie with Liverpool.

The Bundesliga side welcome the Spaniards to the BayArena as the competition "really gets going", according to Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes, and former Reds defender Hyypia is particularly motivated to take Leverkusen into the last eight.

"There are only big clubs left in the competition now and these games are really exciting," he told the SID news agency.

"I have played many games like this in my career and I hope that many more are to come.

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"My big dream is to play Liverpool in the next round. It would be amazing to return to Anfield and play another match there."

Hyypia should return to the Leverkusen team on Thursday after missing the weekend's Bundesliga 3-0 win over Wolfsburg.

Hanno Balitsch, Eren Derdiyok, Renato Augusto and Simon Rolfes are also back for a practically full-strength Leverkusen, although Michael Ballack is still training individually and us unlikely to figure.

He is joined on the sidelines by Manuel Friedrich and Tranquillo Barnetta.

Meanwhile, Heynckes has been facing questions of a different kind this week with rumours he is set to become the new coach of Bayern Munich next season.

He ignored all of the questions regarding his future at the pre-match press conference, saying only that he would "not comment" on an issue which does not even exist.

"The Europa League really gets going now and we are facing an opponent on the same level as us," he said, concentrating fully on tomorrow's match.

Villarreal go into the match in disappointing domestic form but playmaker Santi Cazorla has warned Leverkusen that his side, on their day, can beat any team.

The Yellow Submarine had been enjoying a fine campaign up until about a month ago, when things started to go wrong for Juan Carlos Garrido's men in La Liga.

In their last six Primera Divison matches, Villarreal have recorded just one win and suffered three defeats - the latest being Saturday's 3-1 loss to Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon.

That defeat saw fourth-placed Villarreal slip four points behind Valencia in the race for third spot, although they still boast a healthy nine-point advantage over Athletic Bilbao in fifth.

Cazorla said: "We've been left with a bad taste in the mouth after the game at the Calderon, but now we're eager to get a good result tomorrow.

"We're having a great season and we must not let that be tarnished by the recent results."

The Spain international added of Thursday's game: "We're going there with the intention of scoring because away from home that's very positive.

"We're had a negative run of results and we need to try and change that as soon as possible.

"At their ground they are very strong and they are second in the Bundesliga, but we've already shown that we can perform well against strong teams.

"In the Europa League there are only big teams and if we want to achieve something important we are going to have to face the best.

"If we are at a high level we can beat anyone."

Garrido has taken a 19-man squad with him to Germany, with Marcos Senna, Cicinho and Angel Lopez all missing through injury. Spanish World Cup-winner Joan Capdevila is also unavailable due to suspension.

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