Bayer Leverkusen have seen their season turned around early under new coach Kasper Hjulmand, with a four-game winning run in the Bundesliga, but on Saturday they face their biggest test to date at flawless Bayern Munich.
Leverkusen, the 2024 Bundesliga champions, had several key players depart in the summer along with coach Xabi Alonso. Early results led to the sacking of new boss Erik ten Hag after two Bundesliga matchdays with Hjulmand arriving to steady the ship.
Only a few weeks ago, Leverkusen fans would have thought it was impossible to give the league leaders a run for their money in Munich.
The Bavarians, who travel to Paris St Germain for the Champions League next week, have set a record for Europe's top five leagues after beating Cologne 4-1 in the German Cup second round on Wednesday to make it 14 wins from 14 matches across all competitions.
But since Hjulmand's arrival, Leverkusen, who face Benfica in Lisbon in the Champions League on Wednesday, have been steadily improving and needed less time to start clicking than the Dane had expected. They are still on a league-record 37-match unbeaten streak in away games, Reuters reported.
Leverkusen's four-game winning run has moved them up the standings into fifth spot, level on 17 points with fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund.
However, they will not be as fresh as Hjulmand would have liked, needing 120 minutes to battle past second-tier Paderborn for a 4-2 win in the German Cup, with the winning goals coming deep in stoppage time of extra time.
"Unnecessary, completely unnecessary," said Leverkusen’s Jonas Hofmann when asked about having to play extra time. "But that’s the game. That’s how it had to be now. We accept it and will try to recover.
"We will still go there (Munich) with ambition, to get something out of it and not complain. The extra 30 minutes were not helpful, of course, but we’d rather take it this way than be knocked out."
RB Leipzig have an even better record since losing their league opener to Bayern 6-0, and have now won six of their last seven matches to take over second spot on 19 points, five behind Bayern.
They will be eying their third straight league win when they host VfB Stuttgart on Saturday, and hoping the Bavarians will slip up against Leverkusen, in order to close the gap.
