Kasper Hjulmand insists Bayer Leverkusen are only concerned about the elements they can control before taking on Villarreal in the Champions League.
Leverkusen go into Wednesday’s match knowing that a win will be enough to advance to the knockout stages of the play-offs.
They are in 20th place, so defeat could well see them drop out of the play-off places should results go against them elsewhere.
However, Hjulmand was confident that Leverkusen would not focus on other results.
“It’s a very important match for us, we want to get through to the next round. That’s our very clear goal,” he said.
“If necessary, we will of course have the results of the other matches in the bank in the final phase of the match.
“But we play to win, that is our mentality. That’s how we go into tomorrow’s match.”
Thoughts of @Lucasvazquez91 ahead of our final UCL league stage match! pic.twitter.com/NVEIG5fKVV
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) January 27, 2026
Hjulmand is winless in all six home games of the Champions League (D1 L2 with FC Nordsjaelland, D2 L1 with Leverkusen) and has conceded 20 goals in those six games, an average of 3.3 per game.
Only Mustafa Denizli, Jindrich Trpisovsky and Vladimír Weiss have played more home games without winning (seven each) than Hjulmand.
Villarreal, meanwhile, are the only Spanish team to play as many as seven matches (D1 L6) in a European Cup/Champions League campaign and win none.
However, they are having a good season in LaLiga and Leverkusen’s Lucas Vazquez expects a tough test.
“They are having a great season in La Liga. Their team and players are very strong. They will come here to cause us problems,” said the former Real Madrid man.
“We are very well prepared for tomorrow and the coming weeks. We really want to win the coming matches, which are very important for the club.”
“We have a great team and can achieve a lot together if we keep working hard.”
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