Bayer Leverkusen comprehensively beat Bayern Munich in the derby of the season in the Bundesliga at the BayArena on Saturday, with Bayern loanee Josip Stanisic (18′), Alex Grimaldo (50′) and Jeremie Frimpong (90+5′) all on target for the home side.
It was a very important victory for Xabi Alonso’s team, who appear unstoppable as they charge towards finally dethroning the Bavarians as the kings of German football.
The game
It was certainly a deserved victory for Leverkusen as well. They really put in a top performance throughout, using all the right spaces, attacking and repeatedly hurting Bayern wherever they felt the champions vulnerable.
Stretching the pitch to its full length, it’s no surprise all three goals were scored by wide players, though it should be said that Granit Xhaka and Robert Andrich really put in a shift in the middle of the park, the defensive trio of Edmond Tabsoba, Jonathan Tah and Piero Hincapie kept the likes of Harry Kane, Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala unusually quiet, and the creativity of Florian Wirtz, along with the pace of Nathan Tella and Amine Adli, troubled the Bayern defence greatly.
It was lovely to see Leverkusen exert so much control over the proceedings against a team like Bayern Munich, who don’t take too kindly to being outplayed in such a manner. In the end, the defending champions were arguably lucky to lose only by three goals – had not Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae shown their individual quality at the back on several occasions, as well as Manuel Neuer in goal, it could’ve been several more goals in their net.
Bayern never really created anything worthy of mention. The only situations when Lukas Hradecky might have felt threatened were hopeful efforts from range by Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich, but even those barely troubled the Leverkusen keeper as one went over the bar and the other straight at him, with an offside call given against Bayern in the buildup.
Leverkusen fired 14 times towards Neuer and hit the target eight times, while Bayern took nine of which only one went the right way. But what makes Leverkusen’s domination and victory even more impressive is the fact that they did all that with just 39% of possession.
The title race
The defeat at the BayArena obviously has huge ramifications on Bayern’s chances of defending their title. The Bavarians won the league every time since Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund beat them to it twice, the last time in 2012, and it seems the run that stands at 11 consecutive titles is set to come to an end this season.
The three points won by Leverkusen have extended their lead to five, which in itself isn’t too far out of reach for a team like Bayern, but given Leverkusen’s impressive record this term, it’s not very easy to imagine the combination of them faltering twice and Bayern winning all their games. It’s far from over, but even the neutral lovers of the game mostly hope Leverkusen hold on and finally force a change on the throne.
Stuttgart and Dortmund in third and fourth place, respectively, both trail second-place Bayern by 10 points and it feels quite safe to assume neither will manage to enter the race before the end.
Xabi Alonso
Though they probably aren’t thinking about that too hard right now and prefer to focus on the title race, the future of Xabi Alonso is arguably the biggest problem Leverkusen will be dealing with over the next several months.
Various reports have claimed that the Spaniard has a kind of a release clause in his contract, allowing him to leave the club if any of the three European giants for which he once played – Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern – come for his services. It remains to be seen how much truth there is in such claims, though it appears Liverpool are a very serious possibility there, with Klopp recently confirming his departure from Anfield at the end of the season.
On the other hand, if Leverkusen do win the title, Bayern might feel it’s time to part ways with Thomas Tuchel and go for Alonso themselves, which would surely complicate matters greatly.
Come what may, Alonso’s credential as a top-level coach cannot be objectively doubted any more. For all the talk about “it’s just one season”, for his team to remain undefeated so far in all competitions is truly a great achievement, especially as nobody saw them being five points clear of Bayern by the middle of February; not to mention thrashing them as they did in this game.
Bayer Leverkusen are now unbeaten in each of their 31 games across all competitions this season and have opened up a five point gap at the top of the Bundesliga:
◉ 27 wins
◉ 4 draws
◉ 0 defeats
◎ 93 goals
◎ 18 conceded
◎ 15 clean sheetsIf they avoid defeat in their next… pic.twitter.com/r0bkOe1PBt
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 10, 2024
For the time being, there’s nothing for Leverkusen but to enjoy the ride and cheer their manager on, hoping to lift the Bundesliga title, and perhaps even for Europa League glory, where they could be forced to face Liverpool at some point.
- Soccer News Like
- Be the first of your friends!
