2024/25 season review

With the clash at Mainz 05 on the 34th and final matchday of the 2024/25 Bundesliga, another eventful season came to an end. The Werkself finished as runners-up in second place and can be proud of the joint third-best points tally in the club's history. Bayer04.de takes a look back - firstly at the period from the summer until the end of the year, in which the Werkself had to deal with high expectations and fluctuated between impressive performances, squandered leads and absolute top form.

Werkself players in continental tournaments

After a short summer break, several Werkself players were involved in either UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany or the Copa América in the USA. Pleasingly from a Bayer 04 point of view, a Leverkusen player was on the winning team in both tournaments. While Alejandro Grimaldo and Spain were crowned European champions, Exequiel Palacios and Argentina defended their Copa América title. Meanwhile in Leverkusen, the first new arrivals were welcomed: Jeanuel Belocian and Martin Terrier from Stade Rennais as well as Aleix Garcia from Girona FC in Spain. The three summer signings started in the first pre-season friendly against Rot-Weiss Essen (2-1), then two days later it was off to the training camp in Donaueschingen in the Black Forest, where the EURO and Copa América participants arrived in stages.

First match, first trophy, first league defeat in 462 days

The competitive season began in mid-August for the Werkself with a nerve-wracking drama in the Supercup against Bundesliga runners-up VfB Stuttgart. Victor Boniface's opening goal was cancelled out and then Xabi Alonso's men had to play the rest of the match with 10 men after a red card for Terrier. Stuttgart took advantage to lead but Patrik Schick - who else - struck in familiar last-minute fashion to take the contest to a penalty shootout, which Leverkusen won 4-3 to claim the first title of the season.

A week later, the Werkself got to open the Bundesliga season as German champions for the first time. The external expectations on the unbeaten double winners were particularly high, but Alonso stressed repeatedly during this period: "Every team starts on zero. Last season was unique but it's in the past now. We're looking at what's in front of us." Leverkusen won 3-2 at Borussia Mönchengladbach, with the winning goal naturally coming in stoppage time! Florian Wirtz netted in the 11th additional minute to secure the opening three points. A week later against RB Leipzig, the scoreline was 3-2 again but this time in the opponents' favour as Bayer 04's incredible unbeaten run in the league ended after 462 days.

Between the meetings with the Foals and Leipzig, the Werkself passed their assignment in the first round of the DFB Cup at FC Carl Zeiss Jena, winning 1-0. On the same day, the Werkself announced another new signing in on-loan Nordi Mukiele as well as the departure of Odilon Kossounou to Atalanta on loan. Adam Hlozek (TSG Hoffenheim) and Gustavo Puerta (Hull City, loan) also left the club.

Flying start in Champions League

September brought the first international break of the new season. A big topic off the pitch this month was the nominations for the Ballon d’Or. Alonso was shortlisted for Men's Team Coach, while Wirtz, Granit Xhaka and Grimaldo were all nominated for the Men's Ballon d'Or. The whole team was in the running for Men's Club of the Year. In the end, none of the prizes went to Leverkusen at the ceremony a few weeks later, but Bayer 04 CEO Fernando Carro nevertheless spoke of an "extraordinary honour" after the club had nominees in three different categories for the first time.

It was back to business after the international break with a 4-1 win over Hoffenheim, and then the UEFA Champions League got under way. In the newly created league phase, Bayer 04 picked up a 4-0 win at Feyenoord, with several players making their debuts in Europe's premier club competition (Wirtz, Boniface, Garcia, Belocian). Wirtz promptly netted a brace, becoming the youngest German player to do so on his Champions League debut. The 21-year-old was also voted 'Man of the Match'. Two more of these awards were to follow before the end of the year.

Werkself squander leads

Three days after the meeting in Rotterdam, Alonso's side won 4-3 in a thrilling game against VfL Wolfsburg thanks to a last-minute goal by Boniface. However, by now it was becoming apparent that the Werkself were conceding too many goals in this period. They didn't keep a single clean sheet in the league until November. That said, Alonso's charges showed a different side at FC Bayern Munich at the end of September, following a clear game plan and coming away from the Allianz Arena with a point (1-1). The Werkself then beat AC Milan 1-0 in their first Champions League home match of the season in front of a full house and a magnificent atmosphere. The team felt the energy from the stands in particular on that night. "The fans carried us all the way," said captain Lukas Hradecky at full time. 

In the Bundesliga, the Werkself had to settle for a 2-2 draw at home to Holstein Kiel, wearing a special shirt to mark the club's 120th anniversary. Further setbacks came with the 1-1 draw at Stade Brest in the Champions League and the 2-2 draw at SV Werder Bremen in the league. Alonso's side led in every match but there was an instability during these weeks, which was still noticeable for some time afterwards. Against Stuttgart, for example, the Werkself could only manage a 0-0 draw despite dominating. A week later, they conceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum. Having not dropped a single point from a winning position in the previous season, the Black-and-Reds had already thrown away 11 points. Alonso later said that this run of draws was particularly crucial to the outcome of the title race.

Bayer 04 Fanzone opens – Werkself back on track

The Bundesliga paused for the last international break of the year in mid-November. There may have been no matches in this time, but a different highlight still drew Bayer 04 supporters to the BayArena. At the south end of the stadium, the new Fanzone opened on 20 November, an over 700-square-metre state-of-the-art interactive shopping and world of experience.

Meanwhile, Alonso and his team prepared for the final block of fixtures of the calendar year as well as analysing the past weeks. When the Black-and-Reds suddenly found themselves 2-0 down against 1. FC Heidenheim, it seemed the work hadn't paid off. But the Werkself demonstrated their trusty comeback qualities and turned the game around emphatically into a 5-2 success. Palacios, hat-trick hero Schick and Xhaka turned the side. The latter expressed his relief: "We showed again what's made us so strong in the last 18 months, since I've been here: never giving up and always believing in ourselves." Indeed, that match proved to be something of a catalyst, as Bayer 04 followed it up with wins over FC Salzburg in the Champions League (5-0) and at 1. FC Union Berlin (2-1). The Werkself were back on track - and the timing couldn't have been better, because...

Bayer 04 end year in top form

... the cup cracker at FC Bayern was on the agenda in early December. The German record champions were reduced to 10 men early on when Manuel Neuer was sent off. After that, the Black-and-Reds showed ruthless efficiency in attack and composure in defence. Substitute Nathan Tella struck in the 68th minute and left the 5,000 visiting fans celebrating a 1-0 away win. It meant Alonso remained unbeaten in his first five competitive meetings with Bayern - something no Bundesliga coach has ever achieved before. Leverkusen headed into their remaining assignments with plenty of confidence and saw off promoted side FC St. Pauli 2-1 before dominating and winning 1-0 against Italian champions Inter Milan in the Champions League. That result meant the Werkself went into the new year in fourth place in the league phase, among the top eight in Europe that qualify directly for the knockout phase.

The year wasn't over yet, though; there were still two hurdles left in the Bundesliga. First the Werkself triumphed 2-0 at FC Augsburg, completing a whole calendar year without a Bundesliga away defeat. Then in their final outing of the year, Bayer 04 sent out another statement with a 5-1 thrashing of SC Freiburg. It was Alonso's 50th win in his 75th game as a Bundesliga coach - only Pep Guardiola reached this mark quicker. Schick netted four of the goals against SCF, three of them being set up by Wirtz, who also got on the scoresheet himself.

After the final whistle, the Werkself then sang two Christmas carols together with the fans. The Bayer 04 supporters also presented the team with a banner with an emotional message: "Thank you for the gift of a lifetime’" Memories of an incredible summer - German champions SVB! The team returned the favour and also presented a banner: "Merry Christmas to all double winners". It was an atmospheric end to the first half of the season, which Bayer 04 ended in second place in the table, with eight consecutive wins in all competitions and in absolute top form. 

Part II will be published tomorrow, Saturday 24 May.