Leverkusen Vs RB Leipzig: Can Die Roten Bullen Break Die Werkself's Record?

Bayer Leverkusen was confident when facing RB Leipzig (Instagram/@bayer04fussball).

Bayer Leverkusen will host RB Leipzig in the second week of the 2024/2025 Bundesliga at BayArena, Saturday, August 31, 2024, at 23.30 WIB.

Leverkusen nicknamed Die Werkself has been the target of many clubs. Germany's teams want to break Xabi Alonso's record.

So far, Leverkusen has held a record of not losing in domestic competitions and tournaments throughout last season until now. In the 2023/2024 season, the record led them to win Bundesliga and DFB Pokal.

They were anxious when Monchengladbach equalized 2-2 in the first week of the 2024/2025 Bundesliga. However, Florian Wirtz's goal in injury time made Leverkusen ensure that it extended the brilliant record to 35 unbeaten Bundesliga matches.

When added to the domestic tournament, Leverkusn's record becomes 43 matches without losing. In fact, Xabi Alonso's team also beat VfB Stuttgart in the German Super Cup (DFL-Supercup) and fourth division club Carl Zeiss Jena, in the opening round of the DFB Pokal.

No wonder, now the spotlight is on RB Leipzig who comes as a guest. As one of the candidates for this season's Bundesliga champions, they are charged with the task of breaking Leverkusen's record.

Die Roten Bullen became a tough competitor last season. Even so, their maximum effort still could not stop Leverkusen with a 2-3 defeat at home in the last encounter in the league last season.

Even so, hope is open this season to beat Leverkusen. Marco Rose's team started the season quite well by recording victories over Essen (4-1) and Bochum (1-0) in DFB Pokal and Bundesliga.

Match Statistics

Wirtz was the first Leverkusen player to score two goals in the opening week since Lucio in 2001/2002. The last Die Werkself player to score more than two goals after the second week was Joel Pohjanpalo in 2016/2017 (four goals).

Florian Wirtz clearly has to be watched out for by Leipzig. Last season, he performed productively with 27 goals in all competitions.

Another thing that makes Leipzig alert is about Leverkusen productivity in the last quarter of the game.

Leverkusen has scored 23 goals after the 76th minute in the Bundesliga since the start of last season and conceded only four goals in that period of time.

Xabi Alonso's troops certainly want to continue their 36th winning record when they meet Leipzig. They want to match Hamburg's record of standing in second place on the all-time win list that Bayern Munich is currently leading 53 times.

Leipzig's mission to break Leverkusen's record seems to be difficult. They can put forward their second best unbeaten record in the Bundesliga at this time (12 games).

However, Die Roten Bullen failed to win their last four Bundesliga games without captain Willi Orban as a starter and lost three goals.

Orban was confirmed absent when they met Leverkusen because they received a red card in the first week against VfL Bochum.

Formation Forecast

Leverkusen: Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Xhaka, Garcia, Grimaldo; Hofmann, Wirtz; Boniface

Coach: Xabi Alonso

Leipzig: Gulacsi; Henrichs, Klostermann, Castello, Raum; Nusa, Seiwald, Haidara, Xavi; Openda, Sesko

Coach: Marco Rose