Łukasz Fabiański remains hopeful that West Ham United can turn around their UEFA Europa League quarter-final tie with Bayer Leverkusen when the sides meet again at London Stadium next week, despite admitting being extremely frustrated with the manner in which his team fell to 2-0 defeat in the first leg.
The former Poland international was one of the standout stars as the Hammers’ kept the unbeaten Bundesliga leaders out until the late stages at the BayArena, making a total of nine saves across the 90 minutes.
Having denied the likes of Patrik Schick and Amine Adli on a number of occasions, Fabiański was eventually beaten by substitutes Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface inside the last seven minutes, steepening West Ham’s task of progressing to a third consecutive European semi-final at the halfway point in the fixture.
David Moyes’ men have come through similar challenges before, though, including against Leverkusen’s German counterparts SC Freiburg in the last round, and the No1 insists they must remain confident they can upset the odds back on home soil.
“It’s obviously a very disappointing result, because we kept them out for so long,” said Fabiański. “But we have a good record when we play at home in Europe, so let’s see what happens.
“In the round of 16, against Freiburg, we went back to England 1-0 down, but then we played a really good game, so hopefully we can do the same again now.
“Conceding two goals so late is hard to take. We were under a lot of pressure, but we defended well for a long time, and even if it had finished 1-0 we would have felt better about things. But, it is what it is, and we’ll do everything we can to turn things around.”
Both of Leverkusen’s goals originated from set-pieces, an area of Leverkusen’s game that Fabianski said West Ham had identified as a major threat and one they had done well to manage until the dying moments.
Despite the result, the 38-year-old enjoyed his third consecutive start for the Irons in all competitions, and he is looking forward to adding to his 196 appearances for the Claret and Blue Army with every chance he is given going forward.
Fabiański added: “The way we let them score was very disappointing, because defending set-pieces is one of our strengths, and we managed to stop them for so long.
“Credit to Leverkusen, because they’ve shown all season they will fight to the end, and they have always found a way to win, but I think we could still have done better at the corners we conceded from.
“I’m just focused on my work, I don’t think about my age or anything else. I’m happy with every game I play, and I’m just going to keep myself in the best shape possible, and keep focusing on my abilities so I can help the team the best way I can.”
