Bayer Leverkusen Host West Ham Still On Target For Remarkable Treble

Should Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen keep pursuit of a remarkable treble, the Bundesliga leaders will need to get past a dogged West Ham buoyed by recent European successes. Leverkusen host the Hammers in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday and are yet to lose this season, winning 36 and drawing five of their 41 games. The Bundesliga champions-elect are 16 points clear of second-placed Bayern Munich in Germany and could lift their first-ever league title as early as Sunday with a win over Werder Bremen.

With Alonso's side also through to May's German Cup final, where they face a second-division Kaiserslautern side battling relegation, the Europa League represents the biggest remaining challenge to their treble hopes.

Leverkusen are one of German football's biggest names but have a relatively bare trophy cabinet, with just two major honours: the 1988 UEFA Cup and the 1993 German Cup.

Serial winner Alonso's transformation has taken effect not only on the pitch but off it, with Leverkusen exhibiting the controlled swagger reminiscent of the man during his playing days.

A league and cup triumph would double their silverware stash, with a Europa League crown putting Leverkusen alongside the best club sides in European football history.

'Super situation'

The luck of the draw means Leverkusen would face Liverpool in the final in Dublin in what could be Jurgen Klopp's last match in charge, should both sides keep winning.

But as he has done since the season began, Alonso has refused to allow himself or his players to get ahead of themselves.

"We're in a super situation in the Cup, the Bundesliga and we want to also do well in the Europa League and achieve as much as possible," Alonso said after