Bayer Leverkusen have confirmed that they will review Sami Hyypia’s position as coach at the end of the season.
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caption:Bayer Leverkusen have struggled under Sami Hyypia in recent months.
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Leverkusen enjoyed a comfortable seven-point lead over fifth-placed Wolfsburg after the first half of the season, sitting in second and seemingly cruising towards another year of Champions League football.
However, following a dramatic loss of form since the winter break, Hyypia’s side now occupy the final spot for a place in Europe’s top club competition in fourth and are just one point ahead of Wolfsburg.
Following a run of nine games without a win, Leverkusen appeared to have finally found their form again after seeing off Augsburg 3-1 last week. That win, though, was followed by a 1-1 draw at home to basement side Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday.
Media reports had previously suggested that Hyypia would need four points out of the last two games to keep his job, and while that has been the case, there is now mounting speculation that the former Liverpool player will be sacked in the summer.
“No future for Hyypia,” Bild’s headline read on Monday.
The German tabloid claims that Hyypia will have one more chance to gain a win at struggling Hamburg next weekend, or else he could face the axe.
Despite such talk, Hyypia insists he is fighting hard to make sure he keeps his job.
“My coaching staff and I are giving it our all to manage to turn it around. That takes a bit longer than I thought it would. It has to continue,” Hyypia told Rheinische Post.
Leverkusen CEO Michael Schade, however, could not confirm if the club would continue with the former Finland international going into the next campaign.
“We’ll finish the season with Sami Hyypia. Nothing has changed about that,” he told Bild, before adding: “We’ll sit down with Sami and discuss the future [after the season]. But we have agreed to do so a long time ago.”
Bild was the not only paper to claim that Hyypia will be out of a job come the end of the season.
Rheinische Post’s headline read: “Sami Hyypia could be sacked in the summer.”
Kicker, meanwhile, stated: “By now, you can’t even see a system. On Saturday, Bayer played like 11 strangers playing a fun match on the lawn of an outdoor swimming pool. Hyypia’s time at the club ought to come to an end in the summer. The mutual doubts appear to be too big.”