Season review, Part I – Top of the table for first time since 2014

matchdays 1-13

Transfers ahead of the season

Two summer departures were particularly difficult to bear: Kai Havertz joined Chelsea for a record sum and Kevin Volland signed for AS Monaco. After a loan spell at RB Leipzig in 2019/20, Patrik Schick, with his experience of the Bundesliga, was signed from AS Roma on a contract to 2025. The youngster Florian Wirtz, who had played in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen in the previous season, was now an established member of the first-team squad. In addition, right-back Santiago Arias was signed from Atlético Madrid (on loan) and goalkeeper Lennart Grill joined from FC Kaiserslautern. And there were also players who graduated from the Performance Centre at Kurtekotten: Emrehan Gedikli, Samed Onur and Cem Türkmen trained regularly with the first-team squad and made their senior debuts in the Europa League.

Perfect start to cup campaign

The first match of the 2020/21 season also brought the first clash in front of spectators after the lockdown in the spring – even though it was a very limited number of fans. 300 supporters were allowed into the BayArena for the 7-0 home win against Eintracht Norderstedt in the first round of the DFB Cup – the club from the North Regional League conceded their right to play at home to Bayer 04 due to the extensive restrictions relating to the coronavirus pandemic. Both Florian Wirtz and Patrik Schick scored their first goals for the Black and Reds against 'EN'.

Unbeaten in the Bundesliga

In the 2020/21 league campaign, a limited number of fans were also permitted in the Bundesliga in the middle of September. The Werkself remained unbeaten in their first four games against high-quality opponents. After the goalless draw in the opening fixture at Wolfsburg, the Werkself entertained RB Leipzig at the BayArena in front of 6,042 supporters – the match ended in a 1-1 draw. There was another draw at Stuttgart (1-1) before Lucas Alario scored the only goal of the game against FSV Mainz 05 to give the Black and Reds the first win of the season on matchday four – the start of a rapid rise up the table.

Great start to the Europa League

On the back of an unbeaten start to the season, the Werkself launched their European campaign on 22 October and underlined their confidence with a flood of goals in a 6-2 win against Nice in the Europa League. Karim Bellarabi stood out in the match with a brace and the 17-year-old Florian Wirtz scored his first goal on the European stage. The other opponents in Group C were Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) and Hapoel Beer Sheva (Israel).

13 – for once a lucky number

There was an evident change from a sporting perspective with the team under head coach Peter Bosz after the exceptional performance against Nice and that was shown by the impressive run that Bayer 04 put together in the next 13 matches with numerous victories along the way. Between the 3-1 home win against FC Augsburg on matchday 5 and the convincing 4-0 triumph in the derby at FC Köln on matchday 12, lay a tremendous run of eleven competitive wins with only one draw against Hertha Berlin on matchday 9 (0-0) plus a 1-0 defeat against Slavia Prague on the second matchday in the Europa League group stage.

One and a half months in a flush of victory

The run between the end of October and the middle of December 2020 made an impact in the Black and Red camp – both on an individual level as well as with the team, the Bosz eleven were brimming with confidence at this stage. Significant victories against TSG Hoffenheim (4-1 on matchday 11) and the battle of wills in the turbulent 4-3 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach were the order of the day during this stage and that helped propel the Werkself to the top of the Bundesliga where they were to stay for two matchdays. Top of the league for the first time since 2014 when the team under head coach Roger Schmidt led the Bundesliga after matchday 3.

More of the same in Europe

Up to that point, Everything was also running like clockwork in the Europa League. A clear 4-0 victory against Slavia Prague on the final matchday in the group stage saw Bayer 04 progress to the next round with 15 points from six matches. The icing on the cake in Europe: The Werkself had the most prolific attack in the Europa League at the end of the group stage with 21 goals scored, leaving teams like Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan trailing in their wake.

Run with bad news

Our number 13 stood out during this phase: Lucas Alario scored seven goals between match days 4 and 7 and thereby played a considerable part in the Werkself topping the table. Florian Wirtz also shone with his performances and he developed into an important member of the team. Emrehan Gedikli, Samed Onur and Cem Türkmen underlined the good work done by the Performance Centre at Kurtekotten and they made their first-team debuts in the Europa League. The only bad news amongst all the euphoria and exhilaration: The second lockdown in Germany due to the coronavirus pandemic started at the beginning of November – the Werkself supporters were only able to follow six weeks of success in front of their TV sets at home.

Setback on matchday 13

The fact the team in Black and Red did not go into the winter break as league leaders is down to a chain of errors in added time on the final matchday in 2020. The score in the top match against Bayern Munich on Saturday night after 90 minutes was 1-1. A fair scoreline – Bayer 04 were better before the break, the record champions after the restart. However, with seconds to play, the World Player of the year struck. The Werkself defence was unable to clear their lines, Joshua Kimmich pinched the ball, Robert Lewandowski shot and it went in off Edmond Tapsoba. The team top at Christmas came from Munich and not Leverkusen.