Finally a football champion who isn’t called Bayern Munich. That’s what many fans wanted after eleven years of monotony, at least those who don’t wear red-white-red underwear. A champion that isn’t called Bayern Munich seemed to be a guarantee of drama and excitement until the last minute of the game – just like last season, just with a different outcome. The champions this time will most likely not actually be called FC Bayern, that can be predicted without risk. But tension? Drama? When it comes to the title question, the season is more boring than it has been for a long time.
Bayer Leverkusen moves in circles so lonely and superior that Bayern’s obvious weakness is not that important. And we are shocked to discover that the people of Munich were not as good in the past as we all believed. The 73 points that Leverkusen have earned so far have only been topped once by Bayern in all the years of their sole rule – in the 2013/14 season, when Pep Guardiola was in charge and the Munich team had 77 points ( and at the end of the season came to 90).
Leverkusen is currently 13 points ahead of Bayern – the record champions have only been able to exceed such a lead twice since the 2012/13 season after 27 match days: of course in Guardiola’s miracle season with 25 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund. And then again in the 2017/18 season, and now Schalke fans have to be very brave. At that time, your favorites were 21 points behind – and yes, second in the table.
So how good is Leverkusen? Too good for the Bundesliga at the moment, probably too good for the cup round too. The final will suffer somewhat from a lack of attention this year, even if that will now cause outrage in the Palatinate. But there is a lot of tension missing, because nobody seriously believes that the second division club from Kaiserslautern, which is in danger of relegation, could somehow endanger the previously undefeated designated champions. Even the cup’s own laws will not be able to unsettle the football world in Berlin.
Christopher Meltzer Published/Updated: 15 minutes ago Prof. Dr. Sebastian Uhrich, Cologne Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1 Daniel Theweleit, Dortmund Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1 Elisabeth Schmelzerl, Munich Published/Updated:
So what’s left? The exciting question is whether Leverkusen will actually manage to remain undefeated for an entire season. And whether there will be a game three days before the cup final that would electrify the whole of Germany. If the worst comes to the worst, Leverkusen could meet Liverpool FC in the final of the Europa League on May 22nd, and it would be Jürgen Klopp’s last game with the Reds. And possibly the German champion will then play against the English champion. There couldn’t be more of a dream finale. But who do you keep your fingers crossed for?
This text comes from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
