Leverkusen Bent But Didn’t Break In 1-1 Draw Against Bayern Munich

Bayer Leverkusen bent but didn’t break in the Bundesliga Topspiel against title rivals Bayern Munich. In front of 75,000 fans in Munich’s Allianz Arena, it was Leverkusen who took the lead thanks to a goal by Robert Andrich (31’), but then Aleksander Pavlovic (39’) equalized with a stunning goal from outside the box.

From the equalizer onwards, it was all Bayern Munich. The Rekordmeister pressed and pressed and pressed, looking for revenge after being humiliated by Leverkusen last season.

"Today was tough, yeah,” Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso said after the game. “We also got a draw here last season, but today was tough. They don't give you a lot of chances to breathe. We had to be very disciplined and sacrifice. I'm proud of the team. I'm happy with the point.”

Without a doubt, for Leverkusen, the point might be the best part of the match. Other than the Andrich goal, Die Werkself struggled to create chances and, at times, couldn’t get out of their half. Bayern finished the game with 69% possession and completed 90% of their 714 passes. Compare that to Leverkusen, who finished the game with completing just 74% of its 322 played passes.

Despite that, Alonso can also draw positives from this match. Other than in the Champions League against Feyenoord, Leverkusen finally managed a solid defensive effort this season. After all, despite all the possession, Bayern finished the game with an xG of just 1.16.

Bayern’s only goal in the game was the shot by Pavlovic from outside of the box, which the stats providers of the Bundesliga gave a goal probability of just 3%. In other words, an xG of just 0.03. The rest of the xG came together by Serge Gnabry’s double chance in the second half when he first hit the post and then the crossbar.

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Other than that, Bayern struggled to create clear-cut chances in front of goal, with both Harry Kane and Jamal Musiala finishing the match with zero shots on target. According to Opta, it was the first time in three years that Kane failed to attempt a single shot as a starting player in a league match.

To make matters worse, Kane then limped off with an ankle injury late in the second half. Will he be fit against Aston Villa on Wednesday? "I assume I'll be able to play,” Kane said post-match. That might be the most positive aspect of his game on Saturday.

The lack of goalscoring chances aside, other than Kane’s fitness, there are also a few other positives to take away from Bayern’s performance against Leverkusen. “As a Bayern coach, you always want to win,” Kompany said. But the performance was as we had hoped. The counter-pressing was positive, we won the second balls, and we created so many chances.”

What stood out is that both Kompany and the players believed that they had plenty of chances to win the game. “Normally, in such a game, you don't create many chances, but we did,” Kompany said. “It was a top game, but there are still many games to go. We just have to keep going.”

Added Pavlovic: "We had so many chances and didn't reward ourselves.” Both of those comments stand out when, in fact, Bayern statistically failed to create many top chances. But perhaps the notion that opportunities were there comes from the fact that their side completely dominated the match.

That’s undoubtedly true. At no point did Leverkusen look like a side that was going to score a winner in this game. The same can be said about Bayern, too. “The last touch was missing,” Pavlovic said. “We obviously wanted all 3 points. But I'm happy with the performance; we dominated them and barely conceded any chances. We’re going in the right direction and will continue to work.”

There are negatives and positives for Bayern. The same can be said about Leverkusen, however. Ultimately, neither team will be completely happy or unhappy about their respective performances. After all, Bayern dominated an absolute top team, and Leverkusen produced an impressive defensive performance for the first time this season.

What, then, is the major takeaway from this Topspiel? First and foremost, the result has moved the top of the Bundesliga table back together. Dortmund, Leipzig, Stuttgart, and perhaps Frankfurt will all benefit from this result. But also, this was a match between the two best teams in Germany, and for now, Bayern might be the team with the slight advantage.