Bayer’s record streak ends
©IMAGO
After the hopeless performance in Munich, Bayer Leverkusen’s sports director Simon Rolfes’ list of defects was long. “We have to play with more courage, with more courage. The spirit was missing overall,” criticized the 43-year-old after the 0:3 (0:3) against FC Bayern. In the top game of the Bundesliga, nothing was great for the Werkself.
After 37 unbeaten away games since May 2023, this national record series ended in a drastic way. Rolfes was used to different things on the Bayer bench during the successful years with master coach Xabi Alonso, especially against Bayern. But expectations have long since changed after the big upheaval last summer and the loss of many top players.
“We are building a new team. It is not the team of the last two years that was at its peak,” explained Rolfes. His clear verdict was: “The top 8 in Europe is not within our reach.” Even against the Munich rotation team without some offensive stars like Harry Kane (32), Bayer lacked any courage.
“We have to blame ourselves for not being there in the duels,” said captain Robert Andrich (31). Bayern were also invited to the goals. “We can take a lot from the game, even if it’s more negative than positive.” Leverkusen only managed a single shot on Bayern’s goal. “At halftime we said to ourselves: ‘Phew, this is going to be really difficult.’ “We got through the first few minutes pretty well, but we were never in the mood in the first half to be able to stand up to Bayern,” said Andrich.
Bayer Leverkusen still has a lot of work to do
Under new coach Kasper Hjulmand, the Werkself had scored 16 of the 18 possible points in the previous six games. Now there was the first defeat in the league. And the gap to leaders Bayern is ten points after the 9th matchday. There were 13 at the end of last season, when Bayer still came second behind the champions from Munich.
“We have to recognize that Bayern is a top three team in Europe. They punished us in some situations where we have to do better. We are of course not satisfied with this result,” said Bayer coach Hjulmand on the “Sky” microphone. “We still have a lot to do, a lot of work.”
