At the beginning of the Bundesliga season, most people assumed that the real question would not be about who would win the title or even finish second. It was generally assumed that Bayern Munich would clinch yet another league title by an enormous margin. Similarly, most expected that Borussia Dortmund would comfortably finish second, well behind Bayern but far ahead of every other team.
That assumption about Bayern has, unsurprisingly, been proven true. The Bavarian powerhouse have a nine-point lead over Dortmund and will win the league barring a collapse of truly historic proportions.
However, although Dortmund are currently in second place, their spot is by no means safe. This is especially so after the most recent Bundesliga matchday which saw Bayer Leverkusen take Dortmund completely apart in a 5-2 victory. Taking advantage of the absence of Dortmund's ace striker Erling Haaland, Leverkusen dominated proceedings from the first moments, scoring their first three goals in an 18-minute first-half span. With the victory, Die Werkself pulled to within five points of Dortmund and could conceivably surpass their fellow northwestern club by the end of the season.
Leverkusen have also begun to move clear of the chasing pack and solidify themselves in third place in the league. Even if they do not end up ahead of Dortmund in the final standings, a third-place league finish would be Leverkusen's best result in six years.
Of course, it must not go unmentioned that Leverkusen's surge this season has been aided by several external factors; the most noteworthy of these are the departure of former RB Leipzig head coach Julian Nagelsmann to Bayern Munich as well as the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Haaland's future at Dortmund. At some point, Haaland is expected to leave Signal Iduna Park for Real Madrid; this has proven to be a major distraction during Dortmund's current season.
That being said, none of this takes away anything from how impressive Leverkusen have been this season, especially relative to expectations. Leverkusen's greatest strength was on full display in their victory over Dortmund - their formidable attacking unit. Leverkusen have arguably one of the most underrated groups up front in European football. With players such as Moussa Diaby, Karim Bellarabi, Patrik Schick, and Florian Wirtz who at just 18 looks like an all-time great in the making, Leverkusen have been scoring at an elite rate this season. Their 54 goals in 21 league matches ranks them joint third alongside Dortmund in goals per match among all clubs in Europe's four major leagues.
Returning to the point about Wirtz and his potential, it could very well turn out to be the case that Leverkusen's fortunes over the next five years are contingent on Wirtz's development. It isn't often that a generational talent falls into a team's lap just like that. Now, Leverkusen find themselves in such a fortuitous situation with Wirtz and must thus make the most of their window of opportunity - especially because at some point down the line, it is highly likely that Wirtz will leave Leverkusen to join a bigger, more iconic club. That being said, if Wirtz develops into the player he seems capable of becoming, the sky is the limit for Leverkusen for as long as the German starlet remains at the BayArena.
Head coach Gerardo Seoane was not a well-known figure outside his home country of Switzerland when he accepted the position at Leverkusen at the start of this season. However, with more than half the season gone and Leverkusen looking stronger than ever, Seoane deserves plenty of credit. While this could be a case of a performance boost caused by the arrival of a new man in the dugout, what Seoane has been doing appears to be sustainable. What might be most impressive is that in spite of his general lack of experience, let alone experience coaching in a major European league, Seoane seems to have a solid grasp about what makes this team tick and how to maximize his players' abilities.
All things considered, Leverkusen's emergence from the chasing pack to challenge Dortmund should not be seen as something too far out of the ordinary. This had been building for a while now. Certainly, the real challenge lies ahead, though - that of not only maintaining their spot, but also potentially finishing second in the league ahead of Dortmund while also making a deep Europa League run.
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