Coach Sami Hyypia has admitted Bayer Leverkusen have some psychological issues to tackle in the wake of their emphatic 4-0 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice as the French league leaders ran riot in Tuesday’s last 16, first-leg clash at the BayArena, inflicting Leverkusen’s sixth defeat in eight matches and their third straight home defeat.
Having also been dumped out of the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals by second-division Kaiserslautern last Wednesday with a shock 1-0 extra-time defeat, Hyypia admitted he was perplexed by his side’s poor performance against PSG.
“I need to invite a few psychologists in so we can get up again for our Bundesliga match against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday,” said the 40-year-old ex-Finland international.
“We already had a head problem against Kaiserslautern.”
With his side second in the Bundesliga, Hyypia said he was again bemused by their performance, especially as they played better after centre-back Emir Spahic was sent off for a second yellow card with 30 minutes left.
“You can only play aggressively when you get close to your opponent and we didn’t do that,” said the ex-Liverpool defender, who has been head coach since July 2013, having retired at Leverkusen in 2011.
“We played better with ten players than with 11, that’s a mystery to me.
“I have never experienced a series of results like this before at Leverkusen.
“As a player, I was used to picking myself up after bad results and I will convey to the team how we can get ourselves out of the situation.
“We need to pick ourselves up off the floor, like a boxer who has been hit.”
After Saturday’s trip to fifth-placed Wolfsburg, Leverkusen host Mainz, who have climbed to seventh after some good results, then face Hannover away before the return leg in Paris on March 12.
Bayer are desperate to avoid another away mauling in Europe having been thrashed 7-1 in Barcelona in March 2012 on their previous last 16 appearance.
