Leverkusen unbeaten run tops grandeur of Arsenal invincibles
Bayer Leverkusen, for the first time in its history, is the Bundesliga champion. Confirming that status with five games to go in the league, Xabi Alonso’s side broke Bayern Munich’s hegemony. Yet, the more impressive feat is the manner in which the Spanish manager has conducted this German orchestra in 2023/24. Bayer Leverkusen is yet to lose a game in all competitions this season.
Assuming Leverkusen gets past Bochum and Augsburg in the last two matchday, Leverkusen would be the first German club to go an entire league season without a loss. Moreover, it would be the first team in Europe’s top leagues to accomplish the feat since Juventus in 2011/12. However, the more direct comparison for success at Leverkusen this season has been Arsenal, generally seen as the best unbeaten run among Europe’s top leagues. The Gunners did so 20 years before Leverkusen’s current run.
What Bayer Leverkusen has been able to do this season is among the most remarkable feats in modern soccer history. This is not a side rife with expensive signings, nor does it have the history where fans expect this sort of campaign. Bayer Leverkusen is in the middle of the most impressive feat in German soccer history. While there is a case that Arsenal’s accomplishments in the Premier League are more valuable, Bayer Leverkusen’s story is simply worth more plaudits based on the season as a whole.
Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles did something that had not been done in the English top flight in 115 years. Going an entire season without losing a game against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool was remarkable. Other Premier League sides have come close, including Manchester City’s centurions of 2017/18 that lost just twice. In the following season, Liverpool lost just once. It still failed to lift the Premier League trophy. That indicates how difficult the Premier League is, and how impressive Arsenal’s performance was in its Invincible season.
European and cup play make a difference in performances
Even then, Bayer Leverkusen has stretched this unbeaten run beyond just the domestic league. Champions of Germany, Leverkusen is in the semifinals of both the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Europa League. No team in history has gone undefeated in an entire season when incorporating play in cups and European competition.
Juventus, the last team to go unbeaten in a top European league, lost the Coppa Italia Final to Napoli. Additionally, Juventus did not compete in European tournaments that season. Porto won a treble like Leverkusen is on pace for this season while also going unbeaten in the Primeira Liga. However, that Porto side had losses in the Europa League, Taca de Portugal and the Taca da Liga.
Even Arsenal, with the likes of Thierry Henry, Sol Campbell, Robert Pires and Kolo Toure capitulated in the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Champions League. Losses will happen, particularly when facing the quality of Arsenal’s opposition. Leverkusen has great players like Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Alex Grimaldo, Victor Boniface and a rejuvenated Granit Xhaka. Even that talent pales in comparison to Arsenal’s.
Yet, Leverkusen has not had an easy spell of fixtures in its games. Domestically, Leverkusen has done well against both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Anyone questioning the quality of the team in the Bundesliga can point to the UEFA Champions League. Dortmund just qualified for the Final at Wembley on June 1. Bayern Munich is playing the second leg of its Champions League semifinal on Wednesday against Real Madrid. In the four league games against those two teams, Leverkusen secured six points.
Arsenal drew games, and Leverkusen has won games
As seen, Leverkusen drew three games out of the four against the two German giants. In total, Xabi Alonso’s side has six draws in league play and a further two in the Europa League. In other words, Leverkusen has won 40 out of its 48 games. That is otherworldly.
To once again compare Leverkusen to Arsenal’s 2003/04 campaign, the Gunners had 12 draws in the Premier League. Its point total of 90 that season does not crack the top 10 most points by a club in Premier League history. Leverkusen, on the other hand, can match the 90-point total from Arsenal in 2003/04 if it wins its last two games. Mind you, that features four fewer games than what Arsenal played.
Even though Leverkusen will not set the Bundesliga’s point record for one season, it will be the most impressive campaign in the history of the Bundesliga. So long as there is a case against Arsenal’s achievement in the Premier League, whether that be Manchester City’s 100-point season or Leicester’s stunning title in 2015/16, it cannot rival what Xabi Alonso has done at Leverkusen this season.
PHOTOS: IMAGO