In a real whirlwind of a season for Bayer Leverkusen, the time has come to take a look back on another enthralling campaign, and look ahead to another future of exciting football at the BayArena.
Although many seem delighted with the fact that Champions League football (or at least, a spot in the third round of qualification for Champions League football) has been assured again, Leverkusen fans have every right to be kicking themselves. In their first fifteen games of the Bundesliga season, Leverkusen had been in stunning form, winning twelve games, drawing one and losing just two. They had scored thirty-two goals and conceded just fourteen. However, a three game losing streak at Christmas, followed by no win in six games had Leverkusen fighting for their lives, and ultimately cost manager Sami Hyypia his job.
Leverkusen's fine start to the season may have been an illusion, but after Hyypia was dismissed on April 5th, new interim coach Sascha Lewandowski picked up a bruised and battered squad and secured four wins and a draw in the last five matches of the season to earn Champions League football and prove that their is still plenty to come from this Leverkusen side.
Although some may contemplate considering that Leverkusen were unlucky not to challenge for major honours this year, they have had some strange luck of their own, namely the "ghost goal" of Stefan Kießling. In a game against TSG Hoffenheim, Kießling scored what seemed to be a normal enough header, but as can clearly be seen from the bizarre reaction of the majority of the stadium, there was something not right about the goal. On replay, it is shown that the ball made it's way through a hole in the sidenetting before nestling in the back of the net, leading to controversy and embarassment for the league at the time. The striker was the target of abuse from large numbers of fans, and he said himself that he wouldn't count the "ghost goal" should he be top of the Bundesliga goal scoring charts.
Striker Stefan Kießling once again led the line, scoring fifteen goals and assisted three, but he was aided in particular by twenty-one year old South Korean attacker Heung-Min Son, who scored ten goals and assisted four. The impressive midfield, led by Lars Bender, have been a force to reckon with, as the creativity of Gonzalo Castro and the tough-tackling nature of Emre Can have been well balanced this season. The defence, marshalled by the impressive Bosnian Emir Spahic, who has been an inspired leader for Omer Toprak and Bernd Leno, have maintained a similar level to last season, conceding just two more goals this time around.
Bayer had a tough time this season in the Champions League. They were drawn in a group which contained Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Sociedad. They suffered 4-2 and 5-0 defeats to United, but beat Sociedad twice and Shakhtar once, before drawing with the Ukranian outfit again to ensure progress to the last 16. There, they came up against PSG. In the first leg, they were hammered 4-0 before losing the return leg 2-1.
In the DFB Pokal, Leverkusen cruised through to the quarter final with victories over Lippstadt 08 (5-1), Arminia Bielefeld (2-0) and SC Freiburg (2-1), before being put to the sword in extra time by 2.Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern (0-1).
In the upcoming season, Leverkusen are doing their best to strengthen and challenge for the Bundesliga title. Although they have lost Sidney Sam to Schalke 04, they have brought in impressive Swiss forward Josip Drmic from Nuremberg. Drmic was on a one man mission to keep Nuremberg in the Bundesliga this season, scoring scoring seventeen goals in thirty appearances, and at just twenty-one years of age, the future is looking bright for the young man with a big World Cup ahead of him.
Leverkusen also look to be in pole position to sign Hamburg's twenty year-old Turkish starlet Hakan Calhanoglu. The attacking midfielder has been a shining light in Hamburg's miserable campaign, which saw them remain in the Bundesliga only after winning their relegation play-off with Greuther Furth. He has scored eleven goals and assisted three in twenty-eight appearances, and again at such a young age it looks as if he can only get better. All in all, if Leverkusen continue to strengthen with quality young signings such as the above two, they may look to challenge for top honours again in the near future.
To sum up, although they can be happy with fourth place, it has been a season of what could have been for Leverkusen, who will be back once again in the 2014/15 season.
