Defending champions Bayer Leverkusen host Bayern Munich on Saturday needing a “perfect day” to defeat the Bavarian giants and keep the Bundesliga title race alive. Bayern come to Leverkusen with an eight-point lead at the top of the table. Both sides have only lost once in the league this season but Leverkusen have been let down by their inability to win close games, with seven draws compared to Bayern’s three. Stung by failing to win a title last year, Vincent Kompany‘s Bayern are in ominous form, having won seven league games in a row.

A win, or even a draw on Saturday for Bayern, will deal a likely fatal blow to Leverkusen’s hopes of winning back-to-back titles.

However, Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso‘s record against Bayern will give the hosts hope.

Since taking over Leverkusen in October 2022, Alonso has won three and drawn two of five games against Bayern.

The most recent of those victories came in December, when Leverkusen eliminated Bayern from the German Cup in Munich after home captain Manuel Neuer saw red for the first time in his career.

In an interview with the Bundesliga website on Thursday, Leverkusen talisman Granit Xhaka backed his side.

“We can make it difficult for anyone, including Bayern Munich, we need a perfect day to beat this team, but I’m convinced we can do this,” he said.

“We won’t play for a draw, we want to win every game, whether that’s against Bayern on Saturday, or against any other team.

“Everything is still in our hands, we’ll keep going, keep believing, and try and win the next games.”

Unlike Bayern, who battled to a 2-1 victory at Celtic in the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday, Leverkusen could put their feet up in midweek, having finished in the top eight of the competition.

Both sides are benefiting from rich veins of form from their strikers.

Having struggled with a hamstring injury in December, Harry Kane has bounced back for Bayern and has nine goals in his past eight games in all competitions.

Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick is also among the goals. The Czech striker has 14 goals in his past 11 league outings.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund can build on their midweek 3-0 Champions League win at Sporting Lisbon, their first win under new coach Niko Kovac, when they play at rock-bottom Bochum on Saturday.

Third-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who have drawn their past three games, will also want to get their top-four bid back on track when they face Holstein Kiel.

One to watch: Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)

Sitting behind Patrick Schick, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz has pulled the strings all season.

So far this season, nine of Schick’s 20 goals have been assisted by Wirtz.

Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro, who oversaw Wirtz’s last contract extension with the club in 2022, told AFP in an interview on Thursday the 21-year-old “definitely makes it look easy — and that’s what makes him special.

“He has a view of the whole field. His technique, his first touch is amazing… Not that many are on his level.

Key stats

24 – St Pauli sit 14th but have conceded just 24 goals in 21 games. Only league leaders Bayern Munich have conceded fewer, with 19.

October 2021 – The date of Bayern’s last win in Leverkusen.

21 in 19 – Harry Kane has 21 goals in 19 league games this campaign, including nine penalties.

2024 is perhaps the first year of football in a long time where it’s hard to pick out one singular standout moment of the year. 2023 saw Manchester City lift the treble, 2022 was Lionel Messi‘s ascent to immortality, 2021 was Italy’s Euro triumph, and before that, we did not have to look past Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to find a standout. But in 2024 – for the first time in years – the standout thing was that there wasn’t a standout moment.

And perhaps the best way to signal the fact that there wasn’t a standout was the fact that neither Messi nor Ronaldo made it into the Top 30 of the Ballon d’Or nominees. The award they couldn’t stop winning at one point had finally moved on for good.

Football in 2024 saw surprises. Perhaps more than we’re used to. Bayern Munich no longer won the Bundesliga, dark horses Spain won the Euros, and a defensive midfielder won the Ballon d’Or. For good heavens, Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations after sacking their manager mid-tournament!

And what a ride that was. Ivory Coast barely scraped through to the knockouts in an AFCON on home soil. Their manager was sacked midway and the collapse couldn’t look more calamitous. Neither could the comeback look more glorious than it ended up being. ‘The Elephants’ beat everyone in the knockouts, including then-defending champions Senegal, to claim a historic AFCON in their own territory.

What about Bayer Leverkusen? Not only did they dethrone the seemingly undethronable, they went invincible. Zero losses in 34 Bundesliga games. Zero losses in the German Cup. And were it not for a freak Europa League final defeat, it’d be zero losses all season. Xabi Alonso at the wheel, Florian Wirtz in the hole, Leverkusen were the team of the year.

Let’s come to Spain. Before Euro 2024, England were heavyweights. People fancied Germany on home soil. France are always favourites. But one team beat them all. Spain. They didn’t boast the best team, but undeniably played the best football.

Rodri was a metronome. His hype took away the shine from midfield partner Fabian Ruiz who was arguably better. Nico Williams was a tear on the flanks, and his wing partner? Phew. Superlatives fall short when one tries to describe what Lamine Yamal is doing at 17.

It’s hard to live up to the words ‘The Next Messi’. But Lamine Yamal may very well just do it.

He finished 8th in the Ballon d’Or. At 17!

Perhaps the Ballon d’Or, and the fickle nature of individual awards, does not deserve the debate it gets. But it must certainly be discussed to celebrate the best individual players. The sweetest cream of the crop. And in 2024, there were three. Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr and Rodri.

Bellingham flew at Real Madrid, and was decisive whenever the occasion demanded it. El Clasico winner? Check. Champions League in your first season at Real Madrid? Check. Bicycle-kick 95th minute equaliser at the Euros? Check.

His teammate Vinicius was stratospheric. If footballers were superheroes, no one would be feared more than Vinicius in the current scenario. Without a shadow of doubt, the player in world football most capable of turning a game on its head with the click of a finger.

But the golden ball went to Rodri. In a game that typically needs you to have a goal tally to challenge for the big honours, Rodri was crowned for being the ticking heartbeat of Manchester City and Spain. Just look at how worse off his club is, now that he’s injured. Rodri was so good that a people needed to sit up and realize that a defensive midfielder may just be the most important player in the world.

Football in 2024 was uncertain. It was diverse. It had no singular standout. It saw Pep Guardiola lose eight out of 11 games. It saw Kylian Mbappe finally join Real Madrid. It was a call back to the pre-Messi and Ronaldo era. And it’s time we embrace it.

Granit Xhaka reacts after Bayer Leverkusen’s draw.© AFP

Bayer Leverkusen host AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, hoping for a sparkling performance from star midfielder Florian Wirtz. Still just 21, Wirtz will make his home debut in the competition, having missed Leverkusen’s most recent Champions League campaign with an ACL injury. That he will do so against seven-time champions Milan feels appropriate for a player tipped for a long career on the European stage. Leverkusen’s squad is deep in quality and Xabi Alonso‘s coaching is rightly praised, but Wirtz’s spark is central to everything the team does. 

Known primarily for his midfield creativity, he is also a goal threat; Wirtz has four goals in five league games this season. 

In a team featuring Granit Xhaka, Victor Boniface, Patrik Schick, Alex Grimaldo and Exequiel Palacios, Wirtz is trusted enough to be Leverkusen’s designated penalty taker.

‘Allow Flo to shine’

Wirtz’s talent is undeniable and despite playing a crucial role as Leverkusen broke through for a debut Bundesliga title, he still has a point to prove in European competition.

He was muscled out in last year’s Europa League final, won 3-0 by Atalanta in Leverkusen’s only loss of a 53-game season. 

Bayern Munich adopted a similar approach in Saturday’s 1-1 Bundesliga draw, successfully denting Leverkusen’s creativity by heavily marking the star midfielder. 

When Wirtz can free himself from the heavy attention, he is among the most dangerous players in the game. 

In Leverkusen’s Champions League opener at Feyenoord — Wirtz’s first match in the competition — he scored a first-half double in a dominant 4-0 win.

At 1.77-metres tall, Wirtz will never be the most physical player, something Alonso knows from personal experience as a similarly proportioned midfielder.

Speaking on Friday, Alonso said the whole team had the responsibility for unleashing “the best Flo.”

He can’t “go it alone,” Alonso said, adding “we need the whole team on their best level to allow Flo to shine.”

The 150 million euro man 

As expected for a starlet at a club of Leverkusen’s stature, rumours have already linked Wirtz, who has a contract until 2027, with an exit from the club perhaps as early as next summer.

Earlier in 2024, Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro said he would “never let Wirtz go for less than 150 million euros ($167 million)”. 

Known for shooting from the hip, Carro later apologised, saying he “made a mistake” and explaining “we want to keep Florian Wirtz with us for as long as possible… he doesn’t have a price tag.”

Real Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal are reportedly among the interested parties, but German giants Bayern are also set to push hard to sign Wirtz.

Bayern are long-term admirers of the midfielder and want to have him line up alongside Germany teammate Jamal Musiala as they do so well at international level.

Wearing a bright smile, Bayern’s goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer told Sky Germany he would “prefer to play with both together in the same team.”

A star showing on the international stage will continue to enhance the demand for Wirtz’s services — and magnify the sum Leverkusen could receive in return.