4453. This is the number of days that have passed since a team other than Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga title. In other words, it has been 12 years, 2 months and 11 days since Borussia Dortmund won their second league title under Jürgen Klopp. But like all things, eras came to an end and Leverkusen delivered an impeccable performance, beating Wolfsburg at home 5-0. Bayern’s dominance came to an end as Bayer Leverkusen won their first title in their history.
The defending champions’ form this season has been nowhere near what it was this season. However, that shouldn’t detract from the new champions. In fact, Xabi Alonso’s men have yet to lose a single game this season. Yes, a single game in all competitions, home or away.
A season like this is sure to bring some exciting stats and records being broken. So let’s take a look at Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich’s fantastic 2023/24 season.
Statistics for Bayer Leverkusen 2023-24
Six Alex Ferguson once said: “Attack wins your games.” “Defense wins you titles.” Leverkusen don’t seem to have taken this quote seriously as they only conceded 19 goals, the fewest in the Bundesliga and the second fewest in the top five leagues (behind Inter Milan). This statistic looks even more impressive when we learn that Leverkusen was expected to concede 26.5 goals using the Expected Goals (xG) metric. In addition, they kept 15 clean sheets in 29 games.
The massive improvement in their defensive stats was a collaborative effort. As mentioned, Leverkusen have massively outperformed in the xG metric, largely thanks to the impressive Lukas Hradecky in goal. The Finn also boasts a rate of 79.35 percent, the third best in Europe (after PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma and Inter Milan’s Yann Sommer).
However, the team also conceded just 242 shots, the fewest in Europe, largely due to their impressive defense. In addition, they allowed opponents 444 touches of the ball in their penalty area, 34 fewer than the second-best team in Europe.
A key reason for this brilliant defensive performance is that Leverkusen rarely has possession of the ball. They hold the ball for so long that the opponent hardly had a chance to create anything.
Xabi Alonso was a big supporter of high-press football Counterpressing. This is reflected in Leverkusen’s dominance in the opponent’s half. According to the counterpressure intensity (GPI), A metric that measures the intensity of a team’s high pressing.
1/13 – Bayer 04 Leverkusen won the German championship for the first time – in the Bundesliga the Werkself are the 13th club to win the title. Meisterkusen.@bayer04fussball #levsvw pic.twitter.com/rSxn6qo4OC
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) April 14, 2024
At the time of writing, Leverkusen has a GPI rating of 55.69, second only to Liverpool. With this intensity, the team hardly gives the opponent any time on the ball, even in their own half. This is reflected in another metric; the field slope. This measures how much possession a team has in the opponent’s half. Leverkusen were simply brilliant here with a ball possession rate of 69.7 percent and were only bettered by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
When analyzing Leverkusen’s title-winning campaign, one interesting thing stands out. According to Expected Points (xP), Leverkusen should have been one point behind Bayern Munich. However, Leverkusen showed a champion mentality. Several times throughout the season they won a game after being far from their best, something every championship team does.
They are also currently unbeaten in 43 games, the fourth longest in European football history. Six more games and they will break Benfica’s record of 48 games between 1963 and 1965. And if they manage to win the Europa League and DFB Cup, they could become the first team in history to finish the season unbeaten across all competitions.
Even if they fail to win the two competitions, they could still earn the title of “Invincibles” if they finish the season without defeat.
Bayer Leverkusen’s next league game is away to Borussia Dortmund. In the Europa League they face West Ham United in the quarter-finals. They will also face FC Kaiserslautern in the final of the DFB Cup.
Bayer Leverkusen was already in the race to win the Bundesliga, the UEFA Champions League and the DFB Cup in the 2001/02 season. However, they ended the season without winning any of them. Although they have won on one front this time, the task now lies in winning the remaining two to win the treble and engrave their name in the golden pages of football history