In October 2022, German club Bayer Leverkusen was in 17th place in the Bundesliga, fighting a relegation battle. That is when the club appointed former Liverpool and Bayern Munich star Xabi Alonso to the manager position. Fast-forward about a year and a half, and Leverkusen are champions of Germany, with an invincible treble in their sights. The latter of which would go down as the most outstanding achievement in football history.
Knowing how Bayer Leverkusen got to their current position is essential for understanding how they can achieve this feat.
Facing relegation in late 2022, Leverkusen took a risk on an inexperienced Alonso, whose previous job was managing Real Sociedad B, a second-division squad in the Spanish league. He quickly began bolstering the lineup with seemingly ordinary yet immensely impactful signings. Two signings of note were Alejandro Grimaldo, joining on a free from Portuguese side Benfica, and Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, who joined the club last summer for a fee of 25 million francs. Grimaldo has 11 goals and 16 assists in all competitions this season, a standout number for a fullback. Xhaka’s performance has been more understated than the Spanish full-back. However, his contributions week-in and week-out have been the energy source in the club’s never-before-seen 44-game unbeaten run. Alonso bolstered this core with additional exciting signings like Victor Boniface and Noah Mbamba, allowing star midfielder Florian Wirtz to step into a commanding role. The manager also oversaw the development of right-back Jeremy Frimpong, who, since joining the club in 2021, has evolved to become debatably the best right-back in the world. Frimpong has scored 13 goals and delivered 11 assists in all competitions, joining his wing-back partner Grimaldo in putting up attacking-winger-like numbers this season. These players blend with Alonso’s fluid build-up under pressure method of controlling the game, and control the games they have. Leverkusen cruised to victory in the league, securing the first “Meisterchale” or “Champions Bowl,” going from Bayer “neverkusen” to the talk of global football.
To call this club’s achievements a domination may even be an understatement.
Leverkusen wants to be the first side invincible (never lose a game) in a Bundesliga season. While this was an accomplishment in its own right, an unbeaten season has been achieved in other leagues worldwide. Most notably, the 2003-04 Arsenal and 2011-12 Juventus squads had invincible seasons in England and Italy, respectively. But forget an undefeated league season. Leverkusen is eyeing up a feat commonly believed to be impossible: going an entire season undefeated in both the domestic league and all cup competitions.
Here is a road map for how they’d do it:
In the first and perhaps most challenging step, Bayer Leverkusen must finish the rest of the Bundesliga season unbeaten. They have already won the title and have to play European football, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Xabi Alonso fielded weaker lineups; however, the promise of being the first to pull off an invincible treble will no doubt be in the back of the teams’ minds. It will not be an easy final sprint to the finish. Leverkusen will play three of the top six teams in the Bundesliga to finish the year. Although, if one team can do it, it is the Leverkusen side.
The second step to completing the treble is lifting the Europa League trophy. Leverkusen won their group handily in this competition, taking all 18 points from six matches. In the knockout stages, the resilience of Alonso’s men has been on full display. In the round of 16, they trailed Azerbaijani club Qarabağ FK into the 93rd minute before a Patrick Schick gave Leverkusen the 5-4 victory on aggregate. The competition’s aggregate scoring format makes the Europa League a unique challenge for the invincible run. If a team wins the tie’s first leg by a sizable goal margin, they could lose the second leg and still advance. This was almost the case for Leverkusen last Thursday after they once again trailed into the game’s late stages; this time, they were up by a goal on aggregate. Not stopping the run yet, Jeremie Frimpong sealed a draw against English side West-Ham in the 89th minute. Leverkusen will face a red-hot Roma team throughout two legs, and if they win, they will head to Dublin for the final on May 22 to face the winner of Atlanta vs. Marseille.
The final and most straightforward obstacle comes from the DFB-Pokal Cup. This domestic cup comprises a variety of German football clubs and is a chance for smaller clubs to win silverware. In most leagues, fans can write off the domestic cup as going to a powerhouse team, and the Bundesliga is no different. If you asked most fans at the beginning of the year who’d win the cup, they’d say Bayern Munich. Unfortunately for fans of the German giant, they were knocked out in only the second round by third-tier side FC Saarbrücken. Saarbrücken continued their Cinderella run into the semi-finals before being knocked out by FC Kaiserslautern. Leverkusen cruised through the tournament, beating Dusseldorf in the semi-finals to book their trip to the semi-finals. Alonso’s men will play the previously mentioned FC Kaiserslautern, a side currently 17th in the second tier of German football, on May 25.
The roadmap is set for an iconic run, with Bayer Leverkusen already etching their names into the walls of history, but no one has conquered 53 unbeaten games yet.
