Bayer 04 Leverkusen are taking the belief gained from finishing in the top eight of the UEFA Champions League standings into the latter stages of their Bundesliga title defense.
Xabi Alonso’s men, who sit six points behind leaders Bayern Munich in second place, host TSG 1899 Hoffenheim this weekend fresh from securing direct passage to the Champions League last 16 by beating Sparta Prague on Wednesday.
“That’s why we play in the Champions League — to compete at the highest level,” Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah said. “We have shown that we can compete with anyone at this level.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
Leverkusen have only lost one domestic match since the start of last season in a remarkable run.
After a sluggish start to the Bundesliga campaign, Leverkusen have powered back into contention despite last weekend’s draw with RB Leipzig, when they let a two-goal lead slip.
Bayern, who face Holstein Kiel today, visit Leverkusen between their two Champions League playoff legs after missing out on a top-eight finish in Europe.
The Bavarians have not won at Leverkusen since 2021 and Alonso is yet to suffer a defeat by Bayern since taking charge, but Tah does not expect Bayern’s packed schedule to give his team any edge in the battle for the Bundesliga.
“Bayern Munich are used to playing every three days,” he said.
Leverkusen were also boosted by the news Victor Boniface’s planned move to Saudi Arabia has fallen through, giving the defending champions extra attacking power to keep fighting on three fronts.
Bayern have not yet added any senior players to their squad in the transfer market, which closes on Monday, but coach Vincent Kompany is not overly worried about having to face a Champions League playoff.
“We have to rebuild our momentum,” Kompany said after his side’s win — their seventh in eight games in all competitions — over Slovan Bratislava was not enough to sneak into the top eight. “It was clear the big games would come... From now on, everything is in our hands again.”
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund travel to Heidenheim today for interim head coach Mike Tullberg’s last game in charge before former Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt and AS Monaco head coach Niko Kovac takes over.
Despite sitting in 11th place with just one win in their past eight league games, Dortmund are still within striking distance of the top four. They are six points behind fourth-placed VfB Stuttgart.
Despite Paris Saint-Germain ending their Champions League hopes on Wednesday, Stuttgart still had something to celebrate, with Germany midfielder Angelo Stiller extending his contract with the club by a year until 2028.
“[He is] an important building block in the team’s structure,” Stuttgart sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth said of Stiller.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
RSS