Leverkusen hope to have Grimaldo back against Newcastle

Bayer Leverkusen are sweating over the fitness of Alex Grimaldo ahead of their Champions League clash with Newcastle United.

When Bayer Leverkusen’s starting lineup for Saturday’s Bundesliga clash with Augsburg was announced, Alex Grimaldo was a surprising omission.

The Spanish left-back was left out of the squad entirely for Leverkusen’s 2–0 defeat – and head coach Kasper Hjulmand explained why afterwards.

“After the last international break he came back with a minor issue,” said Hjulmand.

Despite this, Grimaldo played in the following games against Wolfsburg, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund (twice).

“He is not injured. We pushed Grimaldo very hard so that he could play, but he was carrying a knock. We tried in training, but it wasn’t possible for him to play,” said Hjulmand, who hopes to have Grimaldo available for the upcoming Champions League clash with Newcastle United.

“We hope he can play on Wednesday against Newcastle, but we don’t know yet. But we have hope – of course also for the game on Saturday against Köln.”

Bayer Leverkusen’s managing director for sport, Simon Rolfes, also weighed in on the Spaniard’s fitness.

“We hope he can play on Wednesday,” he said, adding that Grimaldo’s need for a break had become increasingly apparent “in the last games”.

“We said that he really shouldn’t be playing that much – but he did. And that’s why it couldn’t continue. We just have to make sure we continue to have him available.”