LEVERKUSEN COACH HEAPS PRAISES ON STAR PLAYER CHICHARITO

Head Coach of German side, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Roger Schmidt heaped praise on Mexican star striker, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, citing his intelligence and nose for goal as two of his principal qualities.

The German club hosted Hertha Berlin on Match day 32 over the weekend and were able to cement their place in third and the accompanying automatic berth in next season’s UEFA Champions League group stage.


Schmidt gave an interview where he said:

“’Chicharito’ is very important to the team because he’s a player with extraordinary ability.

“As an attacker he’s very intelligent at getting into position, creating space and freeing up room for his team-mates, but is also always available to receive the ball. On top of that, he has a knack for finding the most dangerous position to score a goal,” he added in the interview with the club’s in-house television station.

Schmidt, who saw the Mexico international score the winner over FC Schalke 04 added:

“He works really hard for the team, as he showed on Saturday, fighting until the end when we took a 3-2 lead. He’s also a great support defensively. There’s an aspect to our play, both defensively and offensively and ‘Chicharito’ does this very well. You could see this in that third goal he scored on Saturday after an 80-metre sprint.”

The Mexican was sold to Leverkusen when Louis Van Gaal took over at Old Trafford when the coach intended to make Wayne Rooney his top striker for the Red Devils. Rooney has gone on to have a disappointing season, with even an injury that has sidelined him for several weeks. Chicharito is one of the key reasons why Leverkusen are in third place behind Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich this season. They currently have 57 points from 32 games and have won their last six Bundesliga games.