Super Eagles forward Nathan Tella has explained the thinking behind his goal after helping Bayer Leverkusen secure a 4-0 victory over SV Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on Saturday.
Tella scored Leverkusen’s third goal in the 69th minute as the Bundesliga side produced a convincing performance to progress to the second round of the competition.
The Nigerian forward’s goal came after a well-worked attacking move, with Tella showing good awareness to position himself for the opportunity and finish the move.
Speaking to Werkself-TV after the victory, Tella explained how the movements Leverkusen had worked on helped him anticipate what his teammate was likely to do once he reached the attacking position.
“Obviously we've worked a lot on the movements he wants the forwards to make and I knew that once I got in that position he was only going to either cross it across the goal or he was going to cut it back,” Tella said.
The former Southampton forward also highlighted the understanding between himself and Ibrahim Maza, explaining how he felt the midfielder recognised the movement he wanted to make during the attack.
“But you know when you play with someone like him you can see he knew what I wanted and you know deflection but it was going in anyway so it's good. First half felt a difficult and tough work for long,” Tella added.
Leverkusen had already established a two-goal advantage before Tella found the net. Patrik Schick opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, while Lucas Vázquez doubled the lead in the 47th minute.
Tella then added the third goal in the 69th minute before Christian Kofane completed the scoring in the 79th minute, sealing a comprehensive 4-0 victory for Leverkusen.
Wale Adejumo
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