Lukasz Fabianski says West Ham must 'believe' to beat Bayer Leverkusen in Europa League

West Ham shot-stopper Lukasz Fabianski described the task of overcoming freshly minted German champions Bayer Leverkusen as a "daunting challenge."

Yet, he insisted that they "have to believe" in their potential victory.

The Hammers, managed by David Moyes, have an uphill battle ahead of them - they are 2-0 down after their first leg and are tasked with defeating the Bundesliga champions, who have not lost a match this season.

Fabianski expressed his respect for Leverkusen during a pre-match news conference: "They are in a very strong position when it comes to the confidence of the team, with them being unbeaten in the league and already crowned German champions.

"They are a very good side. They have proved that in the whole season but I would say we have to believe."

Leveraging West Ham's recent experiences on the European stage having won last season's Europa Conference League, Fabianski holds onto hope. The uplifting news is that Jarrod Bowen, the man who netted in the final, has returned to training, boosting the Irons' chances of advancing to the next round.

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"We have experienced already some games under pressure when it comes to European competitions - in the previous rounds and in the previous years," he added. "We have managed to create some special magical evenings so hopefully tomorrow will be a similar situation.

"We want to have as big a group as we can because we have really good players within the team and within the squad so while Jarrod is obviously a really important player for us we will see how it goes tomorrow but hopefully he will be able to help us as well."