qualify for the European Championship and hopes to
do enough to get there himself.
Bernd Leno is aiming to impress with Germany and stake his
claim for a spot in the squad should they make it to Euro 2016.
The Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper, called up for the first time for
the current round of international fixtures, watched from the
bench as Joachim Low's men were beaten 1-0 by Republic of
Ireland last Thursday.
He hopes that by working hard in training he can garner favour
with the coaching staff and be considered for a spot in the
squad at the finals in France next year, with Germany needing a
point at home to Georgia on Sunday to seal their place.
"We'll have to wait and see. My task here is to make the best
possible impression of myself here and to put in some
convincing performances during training," Leno told the DFB's
official website.
"Then I have to keep playing consistently for my club. It'd be a
dream to be there in France. I will do everything I can to make
that dream a reality."
And while Leno believes they will be in for a tough match
against Georgia, he feels the squad's quality will see them
through.
"I don't expect it to be an easy game for us. They will defend
deep and try to close down the spaces," he added.
"But it's obvious that we have more quality in our squad, and if
we manage to play our game we shouldn't run into any
problems.
"I'm 100 percent certain that we will qualify."
Linking up with the national team has enabled Leno
to train alongside Manuel Neuer and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The 23-year-old took the chance to deny suggestions of a
difficult relationship with the Barcelona keeper while
also speaking of his admiration for the Bayern Munich stopper.
"I felt that we got along great – both from a sporting point of
view as well as on a personal level," Leno explained.
"The group with Manu and Marc is a lot of fun to train with –
there's always a lot of talk around the relationship between
Marc and myself, but it's simply not true that we have any
quarrels.
"I think that [goalkeeping coach] Andy [Andreas] Kopke has
also noticed in training that everything is fine between Marc and
me.
"Manu is a very pleasant guy – very calm and totally relaxed,
but at the same time you notice that he is fully focussed in
training. He is the world's best keeper and I tried to learn some
things from him.
"He's earned himself that status. Obviously among athletes
there is a sense of competition, but at the same time you have
to accept that Manu is currently completely untouchable in his
position.
"He never panics on the ball. His composure is truly
remarkable."
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