Aleix Garcia eager for more minutes after scoring in the cup

Aleix Garcia has seen limited playing time since joining Bayer Leverkusen from Girona in the summer, particularly in the Bundesliga, where he has made just two starts.

On Tuesday, the Spanish midfielder got his chance in the DFB-Pokal against 2. Bundesliga side Elversberg and made a positive impression, scoring a wonderful free kick in Leverkusen's 3-0 win.

After the game, he told Bayer Leverkusen's club TV that he's doing everything he can to show head coach Xabi Alonso that he should play more.

"It's important for me to be in the starting lineup. I want to give my best and try to convince the coach that I'm ready to play every game. Today I showed him that," Garcia told Werkself TV.

“But the most important thing is that the team played seriously. We drew our last league game and today was a big challenge, but I think we played an amazing game for 90 minutes. We suffered a bit in the second half, but we deserved to go through.”

For Garcia, it was particularly important to keep a rare clean sheet ahead of tough fixtures against Stuttgart and Liverpool.

“For us, every game, every win is important to give us confidence. The most important thing is that we kept a clean sheet. We concede a lot of goals, but we made a great effort in defense today.”