Bayer Leverkusen is playing the best season in the club’s history and is reaching for three titles. Former coach and Leverkusen legend Christoph Daum speaks in an exclusive interview about the Werkself’s title chances and the strength of the team and its coach.
It’s a historic season for Bayer Leverkusen. The team is in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup, and Bayer 04 can make everything happen for the quarter-finals in the Europa League on Thursday against Quarabag Agdam (2-2 in the first leg). And in the championship everything looks like “Vizekusen” will soon no longer exist.
The gap between Leverkusen and Bayern is ten points with nine games remaining. However, Christoph Daum does not yet want to sign that Bayer 04 will definitely win the title.
Daum hopes, he doesn’t want to commit yet
“I definitely hope so. That would be very, very good for everyone involved in Leverkusen, where good work has actually been done for years,” said Daum in an exclusive interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de.
But he’s not entirely sure yet, also from his own experience as a Fenerbahce coach or his time in Leverkusen. “We all know how foolish it is to talk about the bear’s fur before it’s killed,” said Daum. “But everything looks very, very good. They have a good starting position.”
He rates the Europa League as the most difficult title, where giants like Liverpool FC could still be waiting. But it is also a huge challenge to become German champions and win the DFB Cup. What sets Leverkusen apart this year is their “uncanny balance”. “They have such a broad squad, it may not be as top-class as Bayern Munich’s, but they are incredibly well positioned across the board,” analyzes Daum.
Coach Xabi Alonso and his handling of the players also play a big role. Even in situations where professionals are out due to injury or have to go away for the Africa Cup, the Spaniard understands how to bring players back straight away. In doing so, he gives everyone a “certainty”, says Daum: “You are incredibly important for our success. We need you. I can’t say with certainty when that will be the case, but in order to achieve our ambitious goals, we need you each of you,”
Even the first defeat won’t stop Leverkusen
The Werkself therefore has a “very good, intact team structure” in which everyone knows that they can be needed at any time if another player is unavailable. “And that’s another strength that Xabi Alonso brought in a basic style of play. No matter who they play against, Leverkusen always sticks to their style of play.”
The team around the team is also working “very, very well” at the moment, says Daum. “I also don’t think that a defeat like this, which will inevitably come at some point in one of the three competitions, will throw us off track in any way.”