{"id":901071,"date":"2026-04-24T00:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/best-team-in-the-world-what-super-eagles-star-said-after-leverkusen-cup-defeat\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:12:17","slug":"best-team-in-the-world-what-super-eagles-star-said-after-leverkusen-cup-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/best-team-in-the-world-what-super-eagles-star-said-after-leverkusen-cup-defeat\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBest team in the world\u201d\u00a0\u2013 What Super Eagles star said after Leverkusen cup defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"Soccer<\/p>\n

Nathan Tella in action for Bayer Leverkusen. Photo by IMAGO<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Super Eagles forward Nathan Tella has\u00a0weighed in on Bayer Leverkusen\u2019s performance following\u00a0their\u00a0German Cup\u00a0defeat\u00a0to Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Die Werkself\u00a0exited the competition at the semifinal stage for the second straight season,\u00a0this time\u00a0falling 2-0 at\u00a0the BayArena\u00a0to the Bundesliga champions in a\u00a0keenly-contested affair.<\/p>\n

Bayern Munich took control early and made their dominance count in the 22nd minute, when Harry Kane finished off a cross from Jamal Musiala.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Bayern Munich players celebrate their German cup win over Bayer Leverkusen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The match opened up afterward\u00a0with both sides creating chances\u00a0to add to the scoreline,\u00a0but Bayern were more clinical\u00a0and\u00a0sealed the victory in stoppage time through Luis D\u00edaz, booking their place in the final for the first time since 2020. They will\u00a0now\u00a0face the winner of the other semifinal between VfB Stuttgart and SC Freiburg.<\/p>\n

Soccer Super Eagles star Nathan Tella reflects on Bayer Leverkusen German Cup defeat<\/h2>\n
\"Soccer
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Kaspar Hjulmand talks to Nathan Tella. photoxGmbHx\/xMeuterxImago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Super Eagles forward Nathan Tella made his 20th appearance of an injury-affected season. The 26-year-old had a quiet first half but improved after the break, forcing a save before being substituted in the 77th minute.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the result, the Nigerian\u00a0expressed disappointment after his side\u2019s exit, although he credited Bayern Munich\u2019s quality as\u00a0a major factor.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cWe know we played against maybe the best team in the world,\u201d\u00a0Tella revealed\u00a0post-match.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

\u201cAs a team, we had the opportunity to get into the final, we wanted to do that and I think the first half we were a bit slow. But, the second half I thought we had better performances and created more chances and ultimately it wasn\u2019t enough today.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

\u201cWe knew that they were going to have a lot of possession. We wanted to try and regain the ball higher as much as we can. I think it was a bit difficult because of their rotation in the middle and their movement because they are a very good team.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

\u201cAnd even if we won the ball, we knew their counter-press was really good. As a team, we knew what to expect but it is different when you are doing it in a meeting and playing a game\u201d, the Super Eagles winger continued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bayer Leverkusen have endured another disappointing season and will now turn their focus to securing a Champions League spot.\u00a0Tella, however,\u00a0is very\u00a0optimistic and believes they\u00a0can achieve that target.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cI think there is no one in the team who would say anything different, we had the opportunity to get to the final and it was disappointing that we were not able to do it, but we still have games in the league to push as high as possible as we can and that\u2019s where the focus now, with recovery tomorrow and we look forward to Saturday,\u201d\u00a0the Super Eagles star added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

\u201cOf course, it is still our goal. We want to play in the best competition in the world and play against the best teams in the world.\u00a0Now it is down to us, we have to win these games and we have got the perfect opportunity on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

\u201cI\u00a0think as a team we can still be confident, the second half we grew into the game and created more chances and of course still disappointed to concede the first goal right at the end, but I think we would be happy with how we played\u201d, Tella concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Soccer
Nathan Tella and Inacio Samuele during a Bundesliga match between Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund. Copyright: xLacixPerenyixImago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With their hopes of silverware over this season, Champions League qualification\u00a0now remains the major priority for\u00a0Bayer Leverkusen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u00a0are currently four points off the final qualifying position and with four league games left this season, they will fancy their chances of sealing a spot, beginning with this weekend\u2019s clash against FC Koln.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\"<!--Ayomide Oguntimehin” src=”https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/ycGEJDr9VZlpO_5zujn3ZdvICxA=\/150×150\/smart\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2024%2F12%2FAyomide-Oguntimehin-pics.jpg” height=”80″ width=”80″>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Chief Editor at Soccernet.ng. He has interviewed Super Eagles stars like William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, and Ademola Lookman, and is known for breaking major transfer stories.<\/p>\n

Ayomide has worked with Sports Brief, Naija News and served as Social Lead Editor at Legit.ng. He has also featured on Goal, TVC News, Sports Mole, and Milan News24. He holds a Master\u2019s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Follow Ayomide on X (formerly Twitter): @ayo_oguntimehin\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Nathan Tella in action for Bayer Leverkusen. Photo by IMAGO Super Eagles forward Nathan Tella has\u00a0weighed in on Bayer Leverkusen\u2019s performance following\u00a0their\u00a0German Cup\u00a0defeat\u00a0to Bayern Munich on Wednesday night, Soccernet.ng reports. Die Werkself\u00a0exited the competition at the semifinal stage for the second straight season,\u00a0this time\u00a0falling 2-0 at\u00a0the BayArena\u00a0to the Bundesliga champions in a\u00a0keenly-contested affair. Bayern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":901072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24018,2005,644],"tags":[5189,5489],"class_list":{"0":"post-901071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-best","8":"category-soccer","9":"category-world","10":"tag-best","11":"tag-world"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}