The only undefeated team of the season in the five toughest football leagues in Europe. The most points per match among the teams in those leagues. Fewest goals conceded and second most goals scored in the German Bundesliga.
Bayer Leverkusen has had a phenomenal start to the season. Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky the captained team is in the top spot of the German league with a seven-point difference to the giant club Bayern Munich, who have played less matches.
The difference from the previous season is clear. Although there are still 16 games left in the season, Leverkusen already has 48 league points, compared to 50 at the end of last season.
If the pace continues at the same pace, the club can reach up to 91 points, which is the Bundesliga single-season point record set by Bayern Munich in the 2012-2013 season.
1. Leverkusen 2.67
2. Inter 2.55
3. Real Madrid 2.55
4. Girona 2.48
5. Juventus 2.48
6. Bayern Munich 2.41
7. PSG 2.39
8. Liverpool 2.29
9. Barcelona 2.20
10. Manchester City 2.15
This is the reason for the peak vibe
Leverkusen started the 2022-2023 season poorly, losing eight of their first 12 matches. In October 2022, a former top player Xabi Alonso your ear Gerardo Seoane as the team’s head coach, after which the direction changed, and the team finally rose to sixth place.
Alonso is coaching his first men’s major league team. He has previously worked at Real Madrid as a youth coach and captained Real Sociedad’s second team.
Urheilu’s football expert Miika Nuutinen Alonso has succeeded in creating a consistent and high-quality coaching process in Leverkusen. The team has further developed its style of play from last season’s fast-paced counterattacks.
– This season’s Leverkusen is significantly more of a ball control team, but still plays fast. They play at really short distances, constantly try to speed up the rhythm of their attacks and attack strongly together with the strength of many players, says Nuutinen.
– I would say that Leverkusen is currently on the cutting edge of modern top football. I think quite a few coaches are currently watching what Leverkusen is doing and are ready to copy those things.
Despite their attacking style, the team has conceded the fewest goals in the Bundesliga. Leverkusen’s defense is of sufficient quality, and after losing the ball, the team counter-presses well.
The club has also been successful in the player market. It acquired several experienced players for this season, such as the Swiss national team captain in the midfield Granit Xhaka From Arsenal, known for attacking from the German national team by Jonas Hofmann From Mönchengladbach and a wing-back Alex Grimaldon from Benfica.
– For example, Xhaka is extremely important to them and an absolute top player for the Bundesliga. It can be seen in the quarterback in terms of the improved rhythm of the attack, but above all in the balance of the defense.
The young force is represented by the 23-year-old Nigerian striker acquired from Belgium Victor Bonifacewho has been the team’s top scorer with 10 hits, and the 20-year-old Keskikenttä Florian Wirtzwho has often been giving decisive assists.
Boniface was injured recently and will be sidelined for a few months, but there have been enough responsibilities. The team’s starting line-up has remained fairly unchanged, allowing the team’s play to develop.
Hradecky doesn’t have to support
Since the 2018-2019 season, Lukas Hradecky, who saved Leverkusen’s goal, has been one of the team’s most important players for years. Nuutinen emphasizes that the Finnish keeper has performed consistently between the posts even when the rest of the team has had difficulties.
Now the rest of the team have also taken the responsibility of defense on their shoulders.
– We have to be happy for “Luke” that now the collective around and in front of him is one that enables success and supports his playing, and Hradecky doesn’t have to be constantly supporting his team from one weekend to the next, Nuutinen says.
Hradecky has blocked 53 shots this season. It justifies the number of saves statistics of the Bundesliga season instead of the 10th. In the previous season, Hradecky blocked the seventh most shots and in the 2021–2022 season, the third most.
Suomalaisveskar has eight clean sheets in the current season, which is the best quote in the series. If the pace continues the same, the reading would be 15.1. The record for a clean sheet in one season is Bayern’s Manuel Neuer’s 21 matches from the 2015-2016 season.
“Neverkusen”
Founded in 1904, Bayer Leverkusen is one of Germany’s big clubs, but success has persistently eluded it. There is not a single German championship in the trophy cabinet.
In the 2001-2002 season, Leverkusen even had a chance to win the triple championship, but it froze in the Bundesliga with a point difference to Dortmund, lost the German cup final and suffered a 1-2 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
False jaws have called the club “Neverkusen”, i.e. a club that will never win anything. Bayern Munich, on the other hand, has won the Bundesliga 11 times in a row. Would the coveted championship be possible for Leverkusen this time?
– You have to be brave to dare to predict against Bayern, but if you look purely at their playing, there are many reasons why you can be confident that Leverkusen’s success will continue, says Miika Nuutinen.
– There where Harry Kane seems to correspond to one thing or another in Bayern’s playing at the moment, Leverkusen’s powers are distributed really evenly. All five of their top players have scored and assisted goals. It doesn’t feel like they’re really relying on one goal scorer, for example.
Kane has hit 22 of Bayern’s goals. Besides Kane, only two Bayern players have scored more than three goals. Six players from Leverkusen have achieved this.
On Sunday, Bayern unexpectedly lost the midfield to Werder Bremen, and could not close Leverkusen’s lead. On the other hand, Leverkusen, who are on a four-game winning streak, came from a loss on Saturday to a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig, when the Ecuadorian defender Piero Hincapie succeeded in time 90+1.
– They have gotten into a positive cycle and have recently been able to take last minute wins. The mental state of the team is certainly good in such a winning streak, says Nuutinen.
You can see the Bundesliga standings at this link.