Europa League: “We can beat Leverkusen in England,” says West Ham’s Antonio

West Ham forward Michail Antonio has said the Hammers can come back against Bayer Leverkusen when they square off in the second leg of their Europa League quarterfinal tie at the London Stadium on Thursday.

Leverkusen beat West Ham 2-0 at the Bay Arena last week and are favourites to go through to the semis. The Germans, who clinched the Bundesliga title last weekend, are unbeaten this season but Antonio believes there’s a chance.

“There’s always a chance,” the 34-year-old Jamaica international exclusively told Omasports. “You can’t give up until the final whistle and we’ve got another 90 minutes.”

West Ham will try to draw inspiration from their round of 16 tie against German side Freiburg, where they came back from a 1-0 first leg defeat to win 5-0 in the second.

However, Leverkusen have not lost a match in almost a year. While Antonio acknowledged that, he noted that they have taken down sides of similar quality before now.

“They [Leverkusen] are a different team, they are a quality team. Not losing a game all season is a great achievement. But we did it against Sevilla, against Lyon so we believe that we can do it against this team.”