Leverkusen’s new coach Xabi Alonso (40) will not meet a long-time companion on his Champions League debut: Porto centre-back Pepe (39) is ruled out for the match.
He could have been the player on the pitch that the opposing coach knows better than his own players. But Pepe will miss FC Porto’s away game at Bayer 04 Leverkusen due to injury. This was announced by his coach Sergio Conceicao at a press conference on Friday.
Pepe suffered a knee injury in training and will be unavailable for at least the next two games at Portimonense on Saturday and Leverkusen on Wednesday. In the first leg last Tuesday (2:0), the veteran captained the team and played 90 minutes.
He will therefore also miss the Champions League debut of his long-time companion Xabi Alonso. Together with the new head coach of Bayer 04, Pepe played for Real Madrid from 2009 to 2014. The two played a total of 156 competitive games together and won the Champions League in 2014.
