Big Match Focus: Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich
There's a six pointer at the top of the Bundesliga.
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Xabi Alonso is one of Europe’s bright new things, and Saturday brings a chance for his Bayer Leverkusen side to take a significant stride towards winning the Bundesliga title, when Bayern Munich rock up to BayArena.
It’s a two-horse title race in Germany, with Leverkusen — who are yet to lose a game in all competitions this season — leading the way by two points. But while victory will see them open up a gap, a defeat would see them drop below Bayern.
Thomas Tuchel is under some pressure in Munich. He may not have been able to bring in every player he wanted to over the past two windows, but almost 11 months on from his appointment, it is fair to say Bayern have not been able to assert the dominance in Germany’s top tier that their financial might should dictate.
That being said, when it comes to xPTS — a calculation based off combining xG and xGA — Bayern should be top, according to Understat, while Leverkusen could be as low as third, with Alonso’s team having overperformed by eight points.
Yet momentum is a huge thing in football, and having overcome third-place Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal in midweek, Leverkusen have already taken one big win in what could prove to be a pivotal week for the club.
Alonso played 117 times for Bayern, and this could be his moment of truth.
STAT CENTRE
Leverkusen’s defence has been superb this season, conceding just 14 goals from 20 league matches. Bayern have not been bad themselves, conceding only 19 times.
Bayern’s attack — spearheaded of course by the fantastic Harry Kane — have scored 59 goals, seven more than Leverkusen.
WHAT’S BEEN SAID
BAYERN GOALKEEPER MANUEL NEUER ON XABI ALONSO
“It’s like how Xabi played when he was a player, he gained an insight into a good passing game, playing with a lot of possession, and he has passed this on to the team. He’s a player who really enjoyed having the ball, and his team have this character, where they want to have the ball, and not chase it.
“He took over the team in a very difficult moment and still showed straight away that things were only going to go in one direction. You noticed immediately that Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen are just a good fit for each other, and that has an effect on the players.”
BAYERN COACH THOMAS TUCHEL
“It’s exciting that two teams are earning points at such a high level. We've also had a very good campaign in terms of our history. We’re completely focused on what we can do. We want a statement performance. If we want to win, we need a top performance. It’s the week in which we want to prove ourselves. We're playing for our own objectives, and our objective is to step things up a notch, and then we can be fine in every game. Then we’ve got the individual quality for it. We’re ready to improve.
“Alonso’s mark is clearly recognisable there. Huge praise, but we still won’t change our approach. We’ve got room for improvement in how we play. We’ve gotten used to things like injury-enforced absences and haven’t lost any ground. We’re ready and going to Leverkusen to turn things around and lay our cards on the table.”
ONES TO WATCH
Bayer Leverkusen — Florian Wirtz
Wirtz has assisted 15 competitive goals in 2023-24, the most by any player in Europe's five big leagues.
The 20-year-old leads the Bundesliga for chances created from open play, with 47, which is four ahead of second-best Leroy Sane.
Wirtz has been involved in 23 goals in 28 appearances across all competitions this season.
Bayern Munich — Harry Kane
England captain Kane has scored 24 goals across the first 20 Bundesliga matches this season. Just Robert Lewandowski, in 2020-21, has netted as many across the opening 20 games of a campaign.
As it stands, Kane is second behind only Uwe Seeler (30) for Bundesliga goals in his first season, and there are still 14 matches left to play.
If Kane scores another 17 league goals, he will equal Lewandowski’s record tally of 41, which the Pole set in the 2020-21 season.
ABSENCE REPORT
HEAD-TO-HEAD
After a great start to the season, Leverkusen proved their mettle when they twice fought back from behind to draw 2-2 with Bayern in September.
Kane put Bayern ahead early on, and Leon Goretzka’s strike looked to have won it for Bayern, with Alex Grimaldo having initially restored parity for Leverkusen.
Exequiel Palacios’ stoppage-time penalty saw Leverkusen draw level.
The overall record in the Bundesliga is heavily slanted in Bayern’s favour, with the Bavarian giants having defeated Leverkusen 52 times from 89 meetings.
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
View the full head-to-head on Sofascore.
By Patric Ridge
Patric is a data journalist at Stats Perform and is a regular contributor to Toffee TV and Opta Analyst, while he has attended high-profile events including the UEFA Super Cup and 2022 FIFA World Cup.
—(Follow: @PatricRidge)
Good read