Why Bayer Leverkusen shouldn’t be overlooked for the Bundesliga title even in the midst of Der Klassiker

With the top two sides in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, facing each other in tonight’s Der Klassiker there is a lot of talk about it being a potential title decider.

Don’t be fooled by the league table or the reputation of the two sides as neither of them are the most in form or impressive team in the division at this present moment. That mantle easily goes to Bayer Leverkusen.

Why aren’t many people talking about them then? Well firstly, Leverkusen aren’t serial winners like Bayern, bidding for their eighth successive division. On the contrary they are the perennial nearly men of German football. Their biggest boast is that they finished runners up in the league, domestic cup and Champions League all in the same season (2001/02). 

Secondly, Leverkusen aren’t perceived to be cool or fashionable like Dortmund, particularly by the British media and public. In fact following Dortmund as your ‘favourite German team’ has become something of a fad in the UK over recent years. This means that whenever Dortmund produce a good performance it is eulogised about for days on end. There is no doubt that this is partly due to the interest in the progress of Englishman Jadon Sancho and the prodigious talent that is Erling Haaland. 

However, Leverkusen have a talented young side of their own that shouldn’t be overlooked. In particular, Kai Havertz looks an incredible prospect and certainly one that Germany manager Joachim Low should be looking to build his national team around. At just 20 years old, Havertz has not only cemented a first team place but is key to how Leverkusen operate and is fast becoming a talismanic figure. He has scored ten league goals this season, remarkably four of these have come in the two matches since the season resumed. To say he has hit the ground running after lockdown is an understatement. 

If Leverkusen can keep this run of form going until the end of the season there is every reason to think they can be Bayern’s main challengers for the title. With Bayern and Dortmund clashing tonight there is a chance that Bayern will drop points. If they do, and Leverkusen win they will reduce the current seven point gap to the top. They then still have to play Bayern themselves in a couple of weeks time. If they can manage to beat them, and Bayern certainly aren’t infallible, they would be right with them with just a handful of matches remaining.

It sounds like a lot needs to happen for this scenario to present itself but it really isn’t beyond the realms of possibility. Bayern are a very good side but they do look a little defensively vulnerable, particularly from set pieces, as witnessed on Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Dortmund are a little inconsistent. They have won both matches since the resumption but one was a fine performance against a Schalke side that are playing woefully at the moment and the second was a rather laboured performance against Wolfsburg.

Leverkusen on the other hand, have brushed aside a Werder Bremen team who are languishing near the relegation zone but do look to have turned a corner compared to the start of the season, and Borussia Monchengladbach who are a fine side that actually led the league earlier in the season. 

Don’t be surprised then, if, on the final day of the season it is Leverkusen that Bayern Munich are trying to fend off for the title. And if it is, don’t expect to hear too much about it from English fans and media interested in the Bundesliga, after all it wouldn’t involve the trendy Dortmund.

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