Bayer Leverkusen has THICK Plot Armour
Well, this is the most impressive season by a club maybe ever.
Last week, Xabi Alonso's team did two historic things. The first one was breaking Bayern Munich's decade long grip on the Bundesliga.
The second and more important, was winning the first ever Bundesliga title in Bayer Leverkusen's 120 year history. The club that’s been playing in the top divisions of German football forever and never won it. The club whose actual claim to fame is that they never win. Neverkusen.
The club is now on its way to a third and completely insane feat. They’re currently undefeated in every single game in every single competition this season. Bundesliga, obviously, the German cup as well as the Europa League. There have been undefeated seasons in a league before, but nothing like this.
What’s interesting is also that the undefeated streak frequently looks like it’ll be broken but the team somehow manages to claw their way back into the game.
Europa League
In the group stage of the Europa League, Leverkusen drew a fairly easy group. They took on the Norwegian and Swedish league champions Molde and Häcken, as well as Europa League regular, Azerbaijani FK Qarabag.
The group stage ended in a rout. Leverkusen won all six games and had a goal difference of 16 after scoring 19 and conceding three. They had both the most goals scored and the fewest conceded out of any team in any group in the competition.
| Position | Team | W | D | L | Scored | Conceded | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leverkusen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 6 | 18 |
| 2 | Qarabag | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 10 |
| 3 | Molde | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 7 |
| 4 | Häcken | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 17 | 0 |
In the knockouts, Leverkusen, yet again, took on Qarabag in the round of sixteen. Alonso decided to rotate the team in both games. In both games Leverkusen went 2-0 down. In both games they were saved by the same man.
Patrick Schick came on in the 80th and equalised for Leverkusen in the 92nd minute in the first game. In the second game when Bayer Leverkusen went 2-0 down, he was brought back on and did the exact same thing, equalised in overtime. In that game though, he wasn’t done. Four minutes later, in the 97th, he scored the winner.
Here’s when Leverkusen have scored to keep the streak intact in their Europa League knockout games:
| Opponent | Scored (minutes) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Qarabag | 92' | 2-2 |
| Qarabag | 93' | 3-2 |
| West Ham | 89' | 1-1 |
| West Ham | 83' | 2-0 |
League
The league hasn’t been quite as tight but there have been a few close calls. Now that they’ve already won the league, the challenge for Alonso is to keep the players motivated to keep winning, or at least drawing, just to keep the streak alive. In their last game against Dortmund, the undefeated streak came as close as possible to ending.
Dortmund, who are in a chase to get Champions League football next season, were very motivated to get a result. It took all the way until the 81st minute before anyone scored, and it was Fullkrug for Dortmund. So, with nine minutes left on the clock, time was running out for Leverkusen. They pushed and pushed and it looked like the streak might be over. But, in the 97th minute, with one of the last kicks of the game, Josip Stanisic managed to get his head on a corner to make it 1-1. The streak is still alive.
There have been a few close calls. Less than a month ago, Leverkusen played Hoffenheim and were trailing the little club 1-0 until the 88th minute when Robert Andrich got the equaliser. Leverkusen would even go on to win the game, after a 91st minute winner from Schick. He’s got a habit of scoring those goals.
Looking Forward
With four games remaining, they still have some tough competition to take on. This weekend they’re playing third placed Stuttgart. Four points ahead of Leipzig, Stuttgart has third place in their grasp but they’ll be very motivated to get a result in this game.
Then there are the semi finals in the Europa League and the final in the German Cup – the DFB Pokal. The thing about cup competitions is that the further you get, the tougher the opposition gets. So there’s still a lot of tough football to play before they can achieve the craziest of undefeated seasons.
Looking at past results though, Leverkusen seem to have a very thick plot armour. With the late equalisers in so many games, the team looks bound to do it. Let’s see what happens.
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