Battle of Bundesliga titans

Opinion

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This article was published 28/09/2024 (344 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHAT happens when an immovable object encounters an irresistible force?

It’s a riddle that physicists have wrestled with for as long as there have been physicists; a conundrum faced by the Bundesliga for as long as there’s been a Bundesliga.

Given their post-war dominance of German football, Bayern Munich would seem to be the immovable object. Except for a six-year spell in the 1970s, they’ve kept a rock-solid presence at or near the top of the table. In 2013 they began an unprecedented stretch of 11 consecutive titles that included a pair of treble-winning seasons.

Then they met the unstoppable force.

Last February, in a one-versus-two match-up at Bayer Leverkusen, they became just the latest victim rolled over by a team that would end up completing the schedule without a single defeat. The 3-0 loss to Die Werkself was Bayern’s heaviest in 20 years, and their eventual third-place finish was their worst since 2011.

Leverkusen, meanwhile, went on to complete a league and cup double, and also advanced to the final of the Europa League.

Does this mean, at least in imperfect Bundesliga terms, that unstoppable beats immovable? It’s not that simple. Thankfully, there’s another experiment about to take place — today, at Allianz-Arena (11:30 a.m., DAZN).

It’ll be the first meeting of the two sides since that three-nil at the BayArena. Bayern Munich, as they’d themselves expect, are once again perched atop the standings with a 100 per cent record in all competitions. Their dominance has not only been restored, but also underlined. In their three matches last week, they outscored their opponents by a combined 20-3.

Eight of those goals came courtesy of Harry Kane, who looks more determined than ever to do his part — and then some — in an effort to win a first club trophy. Michael Olise contributed five. The 22-year-old is coming off a breakout season with Crystal Palace, and Bayern paid €60 million to acquire him in July.

The real driver behind Bayern’s return to the summit has been new manager Vincent Kompany.

To say the 38-year-old has been a breath of fresh air at Sabener Strasse would be a gross understatement. Following the tumult of the last 18 months, which saw managers Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel exit the club while wholescale changes were made in senior administration, Kompany’s ability to communicate and restore a lightness of mood has been every bit as important to Bayern’s resurgence as individual, on-field performances.

In a recent interview with the Bundesliga’s official website, veteran forward and World Cup winner Thomas Muller remarked playing for Bayern was “just really fun right now.” He also conceded that while the Bavarian giants were traditionally the biggest club in German football, Leverkusen had been able to “topple” them.

“You have to tip the hat to them,” he said. “Not only can they play good football, but they can also suffer. They never give up.”

He’s not wrong.

Since October 2022, when Xabi Alonso was appointed manager, Bayer Leverkusen have scored 42 goals after the 80th minute. Their persistence until the final whistle has become their defining trait, and already this campaign they’ve had stoppage-time winners from Florian Wirtz against Borussia Monchengladbach and Victor Boniface against Wolfsburg.

They’ve also been conceding an alarming number of chances, and already the reigning champions have done something they didn’t do all of last season: lose.

Late last month, in their second match of the schedule, Leverkusen went up 2-0 at home to RB Leipzig before allowing three unanswered goals — more than a tenth of what they allowed in all of 2023-24.

Granit Xhaka, the team’s midfield anchor, stated the obvious last week when he admitted he and his teammates could not keep giving up so many goals, but that the solution to the problem was mental instead of tactical.

“It’s not as if the opposition are tearing us apart, playing nice link-up play and then scoring,” he said. “We’re not aggressive enough and we’re giving the opposition too much space.”

Aggression, since Alonso’s arrival, has been a Leverkusen hallmark. The Spaniard demands a lot from his players, and the torpedo deployment of his full-backs and high-intensity ball recovery requires extreme concentration and uncompromising fitness.

When it all comes together, Leverkusen is capable of steamrolling through entire months, no matter the opposition. When they relax even slightly, however, they make themselves vulnerable. That said, a single defeat in more than a year is hardly enough of a sample size to declare the unstoppable force, stoppable.

So what gives?

Until kick-off, we can’t possibly know. That’s the wonderful thing about football physics. Because no matter how hard and fast we assume the rules to be, each 90-minute experiment reveals a new discovery.

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