Leverkusen are a credible threat to Bayern’s hopes for a 12th straight championship

Bundesliga titles are never won in September. But the belief that they might be can certainly start building at this time of year.

RB Leipzig look extremely strong. Union Berlin will be resilient again. But Bayer Leverkusen really look like challengers. Having begun the season with three wins from three games, they travelled to face Bayern Munich on Friday night with the intention of keeping that unbeaten run. A 2-2 draw in which they twice came from behind achieved that, but it also endorsed Xabi Alonso’s side as a threat to Bayern’s chances of winning a 12th straight championship.

Leverkusen were stylish at the Allianz Arena. They were also superior for long periods. As it has evolved, Alonso’s football has become thrilling and quick, while still retaining its resilience. On Friday night, it also had to be flexible, with a pivoting approach that suggested that Alonso already has the tactical acumen for this kind of occasion.

Initially, Leverkusen’s high press was frequently bypassed by Bayern and they suffered heavy pressure, even before Harry Kane scored the opening goal after just seven minutes. That was a familiar sequence, because how often has it been exactly like that in the past? The great wave of momentum, the early goal, and then the Can-Can playing again and again, thundering relentlessly into the night. Leverkusen looked like they were about to become another talked-up challenger to lose their nerve and suffer one of those evenings.

Not so. In response to that early unsettling flurry, Alonso altered his team’s pressing approach and restored their equilibrium. He encouraged them to stand off and not engage as Bayern played the ball forward, and also shifted them into something close to a 4-4-2 shape when out of possession. It was a sleight of hand which produced startling effects almost immediately. Leverkusen kept their numbers behind the ball and had Bayern’s threat at arm’s length for the rest of the first half. When they retrieved possession, they were cutting and precise in transition and, but for a few errant decisions, might have scored two or three times.

The fluidity of their play was extremely impressive. So too was its systemic nature. Leverkusen have individuals too, excellent ones, but it was really the cohesion and chemistry that ran through the side that made their performance so compelling.

When they moved the ball forward – often with passes that Granit Xhaka cut cutely up the pitch and into seams of space for Florian Wirtz or Jonas Hofmann – it was invariably into positions that troubled Bayern. Those counter attacks would turn and twist defenders, and their ball movement often exploited the yawning gaps between Thomas Tuchel’s backline and his much-maligned midfield. There were often overlaps and numerical advantages in the last third. A final pass was usually on, even if it was not always made. At times, the home defenders looked incredulous at how many attacking players they were surrounded by and having to track.

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Wirtz played extremely well. So did Victor Boniface. Both were prominent and each might have won the game with more composure. Alex Grimaldo and Odilon Kossounnou also had their best games of the season. But more to the point, they all performed well as part of a team that functioned far more cohesively than the one they were facing. Leverkusen and Alonso arrived with a plan and carried it out. Both of their goals came from set-pieces – the first a Grimaldo free-kick that knuckled wickedly into the top corner, the second a stoppage-time Exequiel Palacios penalty – but this was a structured, planned raid rather than any sort of smash and grab.

Perhaps that is what separates them from last season’s Borussia Dortmund. Or at least makes Leverkusen a more credible threat to a stronger Bayern Munich this year. 2022-23’s Dortmund relied upon their individual players – on Julian Brandt, on Jude Bellingham – and received little help from their system. They were as far from a Jurgen Klopp team as it was possible to get. Instead, they were a ‘moments’ team and when it mattered, their flaws were laid bare. Most famously against Mainz on the final day of the season, but also during the dreadful first half at the Allianz Arena in April, when Bayern scored three times in the first 23 minutes, or the bizarre 3-3 draw with Stuttgart just a few weeks after. It was entertaining and they were an obvious neutrals’ favourite, but it was often chaos – for better, and for worse.

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By contrast, performances like the one given by Leverkusen on Friday night typically come from sides with a clearer tactical identity. Under Alonso, the development since last season has been dramatic. Leverkusen’s attacking play is more stable; they do not surrender chances by over-committing when going forward. Their ball retention is much improved and more purposeful; they are better at finding weakness, but also at simply keeping the ball and drawing an opponent towards them. Those improvements were all evident against Bayern. They were all effective too.

But more than technical and tactical quality, it takes poise and personality to play like they did in the Allianz Arena, and Leverkusen owe those qualities to their summer recruitment. That was focused on addressing some of the side’s technical shortcomings and the need to toughen their dressing room and engender a talented but inexperienced group with wisdom and wiliness.

Xhaka, Hofmann and Grimaldo were all signed to not just improve the team, but to fortify it. And all three were excellent on Friday. More importantly, all three were visible at moments of adversity. Literally so, because Grimaldo scored the first equaliser, Hofmann won the penalty for the second, and Xhaka had more touches of the ball than any other visiting player. But figuratively too, because their willingness to keep playing not only helped to short-circuit Bayern’s brief surges of momentum, but it also lit the way for their teammates. Dortmund did not have that either. Not when it mattered.

Leverkusen evidently do. The personality of the side looks absolutely right and that is another reason to think that they’re equipped for what lies ahead. They are at the start of the journey rather than approaching its end and 2-2 draws in September have never proved anything. But the nature of the point they took on Friday was deeply encouraging. That they should really have won all three was enough to tease an interruption to this unprecedented era of Bayern Munich dominance.

Neverkusen? Maybe.

(Top photo: Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)