Meet the German European Champions, Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen were the first team in Europe’s top five leagues to be crowned champions, on Sunday, April 14th. They defeated Werder Bremen 5-0 on the day, thanks to a hat trick from Florian Wirtz, plus goals from Victor Boniface and Granit Xhaka.
This journey to the summit of German football can be traced back to October 2022, when an inexperienced Xabi Alonso, to raise the fortunes of a club in 17th place, out of 18 teams.
Leverkusen lost five of their first 8 eight games in the Bundesliga, in the 2022-23 season. Furthermore, they only collected five points from those matches. This catalyzed the firing of then coach Gerardo Seoane and the arrival of Xabi Alonso. Then they won five of their next eight games, amassing 16 points, and climbing from 17th place to 9th.
Leverkusen would finish the season in 6th place, qualifying them to the UEFA Europa League. Then, in the summer of 23, they signed three players that would prove crucial to their success throughout this season. These were striker Victor Boniface, midfielder Granit Xhaka, and fullback Alejandro Grimaldo. Boniface was signed for €20.50m euros, Xhaka for €15.00m euros, while Grimaldo arrived on a free transfer. These proved meager fees for such important players.
Xhaka and Grimaldo have played 95 and 94% of the minutes this season according to German soccer statistics website Transfermarkt. Xhaka provides stability and defensive cover at the base of Leverkusen’s midfield, while Grimaldo provides an attacking threat through his pinpoint crossing from the left-flank. Finally, Boniface is a bona fide goalscorer, who has 19 goals and 10 assists in 1,931 minutes this season.
To put those numbers into perspective, Boniface records a goal contribution on average, every 66 minutes. By comparison, the incredibly prolific Harry Kane, records a goal contribution every 70 minutes. (All those states are based on competitive games from this season).
Leverkusen most often lineup in a 3-4-2-1, that provides both width, and verticality when they attack.
They look to dominate possession, going as far as to play out from back, even when their opponents press them high. To facilitate this style, players frequently overload one side of the pitch, getting close to each other to play quick short passes.
Certain players in this system have a tremendous amount of freedom to float around wherever they find space, making Leverkusen more dynamic and unpredictable. Two example of this are attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, and fullback Alejandro Grimaldo. Wirtz frequently floats into space close the ball, no matter where his starting position is. This allows him to participate in 1-2’s and other slick quick passing moves to disrupt the defensive shape of his opponents.
Grimaldo regularly moves into the left half space, lining up as a deep lying playmaker, allowing the left sided center back to push forward up the vacated sideline. When in midfield, Grimaldo is adept at passing the ball quickly to facilitate ball progression and chance creation for his side.
Leverkusen recently set a European record for the longest unbeaten run in competitive games, with 49. But they have knocked down several times during this run, most notably in the Europa League. In the quarter-finals against Qarabağ FK, they were down 2-0 in both games.
In the first leg, they scored in the 70th and 90+2 minute to tie 2-2, setting an incredible second leg. Leverkusen hosted this time, but still went down 0-1 in the 58th minute. In the 64th minute, they were thrown a lifeline when Qarabağ left-back Elvin Cafarguliyev was given a red card after he pulled Jeremie Frimpong’s shirt during a counter-attack. It seemed as if Leverkusen spat in the face of this lifeline, as they conceded only three minutes later. The aggregate score was 4-2 in Qarabağ’s favor at this point, with a little more than half an hour to go.
Frimpong pulled one back for the hosts, and Leverkusen began their attempt to salvage, at least a tie, from the jaws of defeat. They would register 15 shots in the last 36 minutes of the game, spending most of this time in Qarabağ’s half. In the dying embers of the game, Patrik Schick scored twice, to give Leverkusen the win, 5-4 on aggregate.
This is part 1 of a series on the Champions of Europe’s top five leagues. Links to parts two, three, and four can be found on the corresponding numbers.
Thank you for reading this edition of European Champions, featuring Bayer Leverkusen.
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