Rudi Völler is constantly reminded of his worst nightmare on the European stage, but the demons of the past no longer haunt Bayer Leverkusen's sporting director. He isn't even considering the possibility of his side suffering a similar fate in Barcelona to the 7-1 loss of three and a half years ago, and not just because the Catalans will be without Lionel Messi this time round, who himself scored five times in that game.
"It's not a huge deal for us, most of the players from that game aren't here anymore," said Völler ahead of tonight's Group E clash against the Champions League title holders. "It was also a long time ago. We have a completely different side with a completely different style of play." Chief executive Michael Schade is also certain that the humiliation of the 7th March 2012 will "have no effect" on the current team.
Only four players from that squad made the trip to Catalonia on Monday morning: striker Stefan Kießling, captain Lars Bender, Karim Bellarabi, who scored Leverkusen's solitary goal, and Bernd Leno, who will come face-to-face with his long-time rival Marc-André ter Stegen in the Camp Nou. In three days' time, both will be hoping to receive a call-up from Germany manager Joachim Löw to his squad for the last round of European Championship qualifiers against Ireland and Gerogia.
Völler: "I'm almost sad that Messi isn't playing"
Even the quartet who are left over no longer feel the pain from Bayer's biggest ever defeat in the European Cup. "You can't compare our teams with one another," said Bender. Their self-confidence is so high following the 4-1 win in their opener against BATE Borisov and two consecutive clean sheets in the Bundesliga that Bayer are disappointed to see Lionel Messi ruled out through injury.
"I'm almost a bit sad that he isn't playing as it's always an honour to watch him," Völler explained. "We wanted to play against him," World Cup winner Christoph Kramer also emphasised. "It's obviously no disadvantage for us that he's missing, but Barça have eleven players who you'd say are all in the world's top 50, so they should manage just fine without him."
Kramer: "We need to have a great day if we're to take anything from the game"
Völler shares a similar opinion: "Messi is definitely the best player in the world and they'll miss him a bit, but they're still a world-class side without him and along with Bayern München, they're the big favourites in this competition." Schade therefore anticipates that "the result won't decide whether we progress or not. I think Barcelona will top the group; we'll need two wins against Borisov and then we'll have two cup finals against AS Roma to decide our own fate."
Kramer does, however, believe that the underdogs have a chance, "even if we need to have a great day and Barça need to have an off-day if we're to take anything from the game. You can feel the excitement in the team, and when you're excited, you give your best performances." On the day before the game, there appeared to be no lingering anguish in the team regarding their previous meeting with Barcelona.
