4453. That is the variety of days which have handed since any workforce aside from Bayern Munich lifted the Bundesliga title. One other approach to say it has been 12 years, 2 months and 11 days since Borussia Dortmund lifted their second league title below Jurgen Klopp. Nevertheless, like all issues, eras got here to an finish and Leverkusen produced an immaculate show to thrash Wolfsburg 5-0 at house Bayern’s dominance got here to an finish as Bayer Leverkusen received their first title of their historical past.
The defending champions kind this season was removed from their greatest this season. Nevertheless, that ought to not take something away from the brand new champions. Actually, Xabi Alonso’s males are but to lose a single sport this season. Sure, a single sport throughout all competitions be it house or away.
Such a season is certain to deliver some thrilling stats and information that may have been damaged. So, let’s check out an incredible 2023-24 season of the Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.
Bayer Leverkusen 2023-24 statsÂ
Six Alex Ferguson as soon as famously remarked ‘Assault win you video games. Defence win you titles’. Leverkusen seem to have taken this quote by laborious as they solely let in 19 objectives, the least in Bundesliga and the second-least throughout the highest 5 leagues (behind Inter Milan). This stat seems to be extra spectacular once we be taught that on the Anticipated Objectives (xG) metric, Leverkusen have been anticipated to concede 26.5 objectives.They’ve additionally stored 15 clear sheets in 29 video games.
The huge enchancment of their defensive stats has been a collective effort. As talked about earlier, Leverkusen have massively overperformed on the xG metric largely right down to the spectacular Lukas Hradecky in purpose. The Finnish additionally boasts of a 79.35 per cent, the third-best in Europe (after Gianluigi Donnarumma of PSG and Yann Sommer of Inter Milan).
Nevertheless, the workforce have additionally conceded simply 242 pictures, the least throughout Europe largely right down to their spectacular backline. As well as, they’ve additionally allowed the opposition 444 touches of their field, 34 lower than the second-best workforce in Europe.
A significant motive for this good defensive show is that Leverkusen are hardly ever dominated on the ball. They maintain the ball for therefore lengthy that the opposition hardly ever had an opportunity to create one thing.
Xabi Alonso has been an enormous proponent of excessive press soccer one thing akin to Gegenpressing. That is mirrored in how Leverkusen have dominated within the opposition’s half. In keeping with the Gegenpressing Depth (GPI), a metric which measures the depth of excessive urgent by a workforce.
1/13 – Bayer 04 Leverkusen have received the German championship for the primary time – within the Bundesliga, the Werkself are the thirteenth completely different membership to win the title. Meisterkusen.@bayer04fussball #levsvw pic.twitter.com/rSxn6qo4OC
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) April 14, 2024
On the time of writing this text, Leverkusen have a GPI ranking of 55.69, second solely to Liverpool. Enjoying with such depth the workforce hardly ever permits opposition time on the ball even of their half. That is mirrored in one other metric; the Area Tilt. This measures how a lot possession a workforce has of their rival’s half. Leverkusen have been merely good right here having 69.7 per cent possession, bettered solely by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester Metropolis.
Analysing Leverkusen;s title profitable marketing campaign, one attention-grabbing factor comes to note. In keeping with the Anticipated Factors (xP), Leverkusen ought to have been one level behind Bayern Munich Nevertheless, Leverkusen confirmed that champions mentality. A number of time throughout the season they received a sport after taking part in a sport at removed from their greatest, one thing each champion workforce does.
They’re additionally at the moment on a 43-game unbeaten streak, the fourth-longest in European soccer historical past. Six extra video games and they’re going to beat Benfica’s file of 48 video games set between 1963-65. And in the event that they handle to win the Europa League and DFB Pokal they may grow to be the primary workforce in historical past to complete the season undefeated throughout all competitions.
Even when they don;t handle to win the 2 competitions they may nonetheless get the ‘invincibles’ tag in the event that they end the season with out a defeat.
Bayer Leverkusen’s subsequent sport within the league comes on the highway to Borussia Dortmund. Within the Europa League they may journey to face West Ham United within the quarter-final. They may also face FC Kaiserslautern within the last of the DFB Pokal.
Again within the 2001-02 season, Bayer Leverkusen have been within the race to win the Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League and DFB Pokal. Nevertheless, they ended the season with out profitable any of them. This time although they’ve received on one entrance, now the onus might be to go on and win the remaining two to win a treble and get their title etched within the golden pages of footballing historical past
