Bayer Leverkusen are Bundesliga champions for the first time. A Swiss midfielder, who has touched the ball more often and completed more passes than anyone else across Europe’s top five leagues this season, sits right at the heart of this success story… we need to talk about Granit Xhaka (and shape invaders). All heaven broke loose at the BayArena on Sunday when Bayer Leverkusen beat Werder Bremen 5-0 to win the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.   Managed by Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen have represented one of the most compelling footballing stories on the continent this season ..read more

Bayer Leverkusen were in the relegation zone when Xabi Alonso took over. A little over 18 months later, he’s about to guide them to their first Bundesliga title ever. Xabi Alonso was patient. Even before he took up a coaching role with Real Madrid’s Under-14s after hanging up his boots, he’d been offered senior positions elsewhere. The satisfaction of that job brought with it the realisation he really wanted to pursue a coaching career; yet he kept his feet on the ground, determined to learn and bide his time. He was the head coach of Real Sociedad’s B team, ‘Sanse’, for three years, staying m ..read more

Are you curious to know which men’s football leagues are statistically the strongest in the world? Or are you looking for answers about whether Lionel Messi picked the tougher league between MLS and the Saudi Pro League? The Opta Power Rankings are here to help. When most of the major men’s football leagues were about to begin for the 2023-24 season in August last year, it was an ideal opportunity to assess the overall strength of those competitions by using the Opta Power Rankings, which you can find an explainer on below.   Opta Power Rankings Explained Metric Explainers Introduci ..read more

Who are the most productive players when running with the ball at their feet in 2023-24? We look at the best ball carriers in Europe this season. Who doesn’t enjoy watching a player running at opposition defences with the ball at their feet? Our ball carries metric looks at players who travel at least five metres with the ball – but which players are the most productive from these moments when attacking? Here, we look at the players in the top five European leagues in 2023-24 who have produced the most attacking contributions following a ball carry. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia It’s okay to admit th ..read more

Find out which teams and leagues across Europe have used the most, and the fewest, substitutes in 2023-24. To celebrate the launch of Paddy Power’s ‘Super Sub’ product, we look at how subs are being used across Europe’s top five leagues. Stick or twist? Managers have more options than ever now with the number of substitutes allowed per game increased to five across European leagues in recent years. We’ve already run through how Premier League clubs are making best use of their extra changes, as well as those in the Football League. Now, in our latest look at subs, we dive into t ..read more

Harry Kane is enjoying a record-breaking start to life at Bayern Munich but, as was the case at Tottenham, his goals may not be sufficient to secure silverware. At Tottenham, Harry Kane grew accustomed to his astonishing personal achievements not being enough to win titles. Without winning a single trophy, he became Spurs’ all-time leading goalscorer (280 goals) and moved into second place in the Premier League’s top scorers list behind Alan Shearer (213). Kane also became the first player ever to score 30+ goals in two separate 38-game Premier League seasons, and the second of them came in 20 ..read more

Harry Kane is facing the very real prospect of a trophyless first season in Germany – can Bayern Munich salvage anything from it? To the logical minds among us, what is happening at Bayern Munich doesn’t make any sense. A title-winning side – albeit one that stumbled their way to last season’s Bundesliga – added one of the modern game’s great goalscorers in the summer and yet are now staring at the very real possibility of a first trophyless season since 2011-12. In each of the last 11 campaigns, Bayern have won the Bundesliga as a minimum, and often another cup, too. When Harry Kane went to B ..read more

A huge win for Xabi Alonso’s men, who go five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga. Here’s all the best facts and numbers with our Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich stats page. A superb performance from Bayer Leverkusen against Bayern Munich saw Xabi Alonso’s men extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to five points with 13 games remaining. Goals from Bayern loanee Josip Stanisic, as well as Alex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong sealed a 3-0 victory for Leverkusen against an uninspiring Bayern, who could only muster one shot on target at the BayArena. Check out the best post-match Op ..read more

All eyes will be on the Bundesliga this weekend as undefeated leaders Bayer Leverkusen host title challengers Bayern Munich. Young stars Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala are likely to be at the centre of the action, so we’ve taken a look at these two remarkable talents. The biggest game in Europe this weekend undoubtedly takes place in Germany on Saturday when Bayer Leverkusen host Bayern Munich. Xabi Alonso’s revolution at Leverkusen has been quite something, still undefeated in 30 games in all competitions in the 2023-24 season and top of the Bundesliga by two points. Inevitably breathing dow ..read more

You won’t find a bigger match across Europe’s top five leagues this weekend than this top-of-the-table clash in the Bundesliga. We look ahead to the game with our Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich prediction and preview. Bayer Leverkusen vs Bayern Munich Stats: The Quick Hits Bayern Munich are rated as the team most likely to win this match, succeeding in 39.7% of the Opta supercomputer’s pre-match simulations compared to Bayer Leverkusen’s 33.3%-win rate. Bayer Leverkusen are on a club-record 30 game unbeaten streak, just two away from equalling the all-time German professional club record ..read more