This was it. ‘The Big One’ (as dubbed by the English Bundesliga channels) between the unbeatable leaders, Bayer Leverkusen, and the record champions, Bayern Munich, determined to not let their 11-year title streak be broken. Just two points separated the two teams, but the views of the fans and the media towards them could not be further apart. The hosts, 30 games unbeaten in all competitions, and the third best points tally (52) after 20 games in Bundesliga history - combined with the fewest goals conceded of all Bundesliga teams - were being lauded by everyone and already being called the new Bundesliga champions already by some, including Torsten Lieberknecht (Darmstadt coach). On the other hand, Bayern Munich are having the best season of any second-placed team ever, as well as the sixth best season in Bundesliga history with 50 points. But expectations in Bavaria are clearly much higher - they don’t care that Tuchel is 7 points better off than his predecessor Nagelsmann. All that matters to them is their position in the table, also the manner of their wins. Tuchel’s Bayern has often been criticised for not having an identity and getting results on the basis of their individual quality rather than team performance - reliance on players such as Bundesliga top scorer Harry Kane (24) and top assister Leroy Sane (11) have been a curse as well as a blessing. For all of Leverkusen’s limitless success, and Bayern’s struggles, a win for either team would completely alter not just the look of the table, but also the psychology of the opposition. Would the Werkself get a firmer grip of the title, or would the Rekordmeister find another gear, as they so often do in big games (last loss in top of the table games was in January 2015 against Wolfsburg) and silence all those crazy enough to doubt them?
The team selection for this Spitzenspiel was curious to say the least from Xabi Alonso, with it leaving many Leverkusen fans scratching their heads. Captain Lukas Hradecky, as expected, started between the sticks in place of Kovar, whilst the back three remained unchanged from the cup heroics versus Stuttgart. Interestingly Josip Stanisic was picked to play for his parent club ahead of Frimpong (perhaps for additional defensive support) and both Schick and Hofmann were dropped for Amine Adli and Nathan Tella. Despite optimism earlier in the week that Exequiel Palacios might just recover in time, the world cup winner was not even fit for the bench. Without a traditional number nine, defensive stability preferred to attacking prowess, and athleticism to creativity in attack, Alonso appeared to have set the team up to be pragmatic, sit back and hit on the counter - not what is usually expected of a Leverkusen team this season; though it must be said that every player has the quality and understanding of his demands to still carry out an identical game plan. All would be revealed later on.
Thomas Tuchel probably feared the worst last matchday when left back Alphonso Davies picked up a knee injury, joining a list that included Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry, Konrad Laimer, Joshua Kimmich and Dayot Upamecano. Even Manuel Neuer was a doubt for a time after missing a couple of training sessions with illness. Fortunately for the Bavarians, they could at least include the last three names in their matchday squad. Their starting eleven was just as eyebrow-raising as Leverkusen’s. In front of Neuer, there was a back three that consisted of Eric Dier, returning Upamecano, and Kim Min Jae - fresh from being knocked out of the Asian Cup. Despite Guerreiro being available, the former Chelsea coach opted to instead hand a starting debut to Sacha Boey on the left and started Mazraoui on the right. Exciting 18-year-old Aleksander Pavlovic began next to Goretzka in the middle of the park and up top, Sane and Musiala were the understudies to Kane as Tuchel attempted to mirror Leverkusen’s formation.
102 points - that was the most of any two front-running teams in the Bundesliga at this stage of the season, and therefore promised an extremely high quality game from both teams. But spectators were forced to wait for it as fans on both sides protested against the DFL by throwing hundreds of sweets onto the pitch. It took ten minutes for the game to eventually get underway, and in the early minutes, it was Bayern who were on top - at least in terms of possession - 80% after the first ten minutes. They pressed hard, and forced long balls forward from the Leverkusen defence; which were of course easily cleaned up by the much taller Munich defenders (due to the lack of a target man up front). That being said, the first major breakthrough of the game actually originated from one of those very long balls. Tella challenged Dier in the air, neither really winning the duel, with the ball landing at Upamecano who, under pressure from Adli, swung aimlessly, leaving Tella in a superb position facing towards goal. Tella headed it down to Adli into the penalty area but the Moroccan rushed his shot on the left hand side of the box - low and easily saved by Neuer (11’). A couple of minutes later at the other end, Bayern won possession high up the pitch; Sane laid the ball off to Leon Goretzka who, leaning back, hit the ball well over the bar from just outside the area (13’). That brief scare got Leverkusen back firing on all cylinders. First Florian Wirtz did well to dribble through the Bayern midfield then threaded the ball through to Adli, who ran into the box before squeezing out a shot that Neuer did well to save before Upamecano cleared to avoid any risk of a rebound (18’). From that resulting throw in, Andrich drove down the line before playing a superb low cross across the six yard box - where Stanisic was waiting at the far post to tap it in! The deadlock was broken - and by an on-loan Bayern player too! Even more ironic, Boey, a player that may have never been signed had the Rekordmeister kept him, was at fault for not marking him!
Then it could have been so easily 2-0 - Piero Hincapie carried the ball forward and played an incredible diagonal ball to Tella in the box. The Nigerian volleyed first time but Neuer was able to make the save; Wirtz’s follow up shot was then blocked by Dier (23’). The subsequent corner proved just as dangerous - as usual, Grimaldo delivered a perfect cross directly onto the head of Tah whose powerful header had to produce an acrobatic save to stop it from creeping under the bar (23’). In a rare first half attack for Bayern, Noussair Mazraoui cut in from the right but his effort from just outside the box was comfortably dealt with as it bounced into Hradecky’s arms (27’). There was a brief injury scare in the first half when Granit Xhaka laid on the floor, seemingly injured, in the 34th minute but after some treatment from the medical team, he was thankfully able to continue - having to contend with having neither one of Xhaka or Palacios could have been devastating. A couple of minutes later, Sacha Boey was then booked for a late challenge on Andrich, stepping on his foot (36’). The freekick afterwards from Grimaldo caused some trouble as after the ball was initially dealt with, Xhaka swung at it and the ball, in the air, found the head of Tella who ended up just cushioning it into Neuer’s gloves (37’). In the 41st minute Hincapie smashed the ball with all his might narrowly over the bar from the left hand side outside the box, but a minute later, Bayern Munich had Upamecano to thank for his goal-saving recovery pace as he poked the ball just in time away from Adli who was played through on goal by a Modric-esque trivela pass from Xhaka (42’). The final chance of note in the half fell to Leroy Sane as Mazraoui dinked the ball over into the Germany international - his technique on the volley was all wrong however as it sailed well over the bar from the right side of the box (43’). It was a perfect half from the Werkself who completely nullified the Bayern juggernaut (not even allowing prolific Kane a sniff), and proved exactly why they deserved their lead in the table. At half time, the expected goals reflected this - 1.14xG for Leverkusen to just 0.13xG(!) for Bayern - even Darmstadt had more last week!
It keeps having to be mentioned, but something about Xabi Alonso’s half-time team talks always gives Leverkusen a massive boost in performance once they come out on the field again. As has become customary, in big games, once again the league leaders struck early following the restart. First Tella passed across to Grimaldo who then ran forward before returning it to Tella again before receiving a well-weighted through pass and lifting it into the top of the net giving Neuer no chance (50’). The fans celebrated wildly as the Spaniard ran to the Nordkurve and showed off the club name on the back of his jersey - great to see that the players are so proud of wearing the cross on their chest. There were calls for a Leverkusen penalty when Dier’s clearance appeared to strike the arm of Kim Min Jae but following a VAR review, nothing was given as it was then adjudged to hit his shoulder instead (54’). In the 59th minute, Wirtz played it wide to Tella, who after beating Kim, struck it low along the ground from a tight angle - never an issue for the Bayern goalkeeper. Goretzka would be the next in the book as his push and trip on Adli to stop him racing away was deemed too cynical (62’). The crossbar then rattled, but not in the manner that might have been expected - Grimaldo, from left-sided corner, tried to catch out Neuer by trying to bend it in using his left foot with an extremely advanced striking technique, but it hit the corner of the post and bar. Tah collected the ball but his cross did not have the required accuracy (63’). Bayern at this point were trying to throw everything at Leverkusen with Tuchel bringing on attacker after attacker and keeping the ball almost exclusively in the Leverkusen half. That being said, the defending from Tah, Tapsoba and Hincapie in particular was exemplary, all putting themselves on the line for the collective cause - as a result, there was no clear cut chance generated at all from their sustained pressure.
The next chance in fact came to Leverkusen as, following a lovely bit of build up play, Xhaka found Frimpong who then had a cross/shot across the face of goal; no player seemed willing or able to get to the end of it however (73’). Morocco international Amine Adli was then booked for a late diving challenge on Kim (77’). Bayern had a corner which Hradecky came out for but couldn’t reach - the ball deflected to Mathys Tel who headed well wide of the left post (82’). Given the time and Bayer 04’s lead, naturally Hradecky wanted to take as much time as he could from the corresponding goal kick - and was awarded a yellow card for doing so (83’). 2-0 would have been an exceptional scoreline in itself but that wasn’t stopping the hosts from pushing for more. Stanisic read a Kimmich pass like a book, intercepting and then running from inside his own half right to the edge of the Bayern penalty area before sliding in Frimpong, his right-sided defensive colleague, whose shot hit the post following a last ditch block from Kimmich chasing back (88’). Frimpong would not let himself be kept quiet however. Bayern Munich had a corner kick in the final seconds of the game, and despite already losing 2-0, Manuel Neuer inexplicably decided to come up from the back and join in. In fairness to the Bayern captain, Kimmich’s corner was actually nearest to him, but up against the colossus that is Jonathan Tah, there was only going to be one winner. The ball was headed out and Tapsoba collected, passing the ball first time to Frimpong. A fresh Frimpong against a tired, bruised Munich defence was only ever going to result in one winner. Frimpong completely outdid Guerreiro, making him fall on his back, before shooting from wide into the empty net (90+5’). That put the cherry on the icing of the cake, and with pure emotion, raced to the touchline to his friend Nathan Tella before all the team, staff included, jumped around in ecstasy. Truly a moment that will go down in history…
3-0 - nobody could have ever dreamed that before the start of the season, but it was still a scoreline that many had predicted nevertheless in the week leading up to this clash, showing that it was not at all out of the blue, rather the natural continuation of Leverkusen’s imperious form that led to such a demolition. Allowing Bayern just 0.27xG despite them having 62% of the ball also showed that the team is not just good in possession but out of it too, allowing Kane just 18 touches of the ball - all of which were inconsequential - and just one shot on target over the whole match for the entire team! The win takes Leverkusen to 55 points, five clear of chasers Bayern and an astonishing 15 points ahead of third-placed Stuttgart ahead of their tie against Mainz this afternoon. 31 games unbeaten too - avoiding losses against Heidenheim and Mainz, Bayer 04 will have set yet another Bundesliga record. We are experiencing history right now, and words cannot describe how exciting it is to be a Leverkusen fan at this moment. The sky is truly the limit for this team, and the sheer amount of confidence and belief the players will get from such a result will be incalculable. Yes, there are still 13 games left in the season, but on today’s display, why would one assume that Leverkusen would be the ones to stumble and not Bayern? It is too premature to say we are lifting the Meisterschale just yet, but keep this up and it's only a matter of time. In other news, the DFB Pokal draw occurred last night and Leverkusen were drawn at home to neighbours on the Rhine, Fortuna Dusseldorf of the 2. Bundesliga, a matchup that everyone can be satisfied with. Next up for Leverkusen in the league, as aforementioned is an away trip to high-altitude Heidenheim - not only geographically, but also in terms of the table - in a clash that will surely be a sterner test for the Werkself than what they had to face last night…
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