
This isn’t actually the first time Leverkusen have gone to Munich with the hosts boasting a perfect eight wins from eight in the Bundesliga. It previously happened almost exactly 13 years ago, when Sascha Lewandowski’s team snatched a late 2-1 win through Sidney Sam to inflict the first league loss of 2012/13 on the eventual treble winners.
Recent form in this fixture also bodes well for the Werkself, who are unbeaten in their last five Bundesliga fixtures against Bayern. On top of that, Kasper Hjulmand has set a new club record for most points from the first six Bundesliga matches in charge. Fans in the ground and watching on TV around the world can look forward to a high-class encounter, given both Bayern and Leverkusen lead the division for possession and passing accuracy.
It’s been a record start to the campaign for Bayern, whose 4-1 win at Köln in the DFB Pokal on Wednesday was their 14th in as many competitive fixtures in 2025/26. No club across Europe’s top five leagues had ever won their first 14 games of a season before. There are seemingly few weaknesses in this Munich team, although their success rate in duels is the lowest in the division. Apart from that, they boast the tightest defence, featuring familiar faces in Bayer 04 double winners Jonathan Tah and Josip Stanisic. There’s obviously also their attack, led by Harry Kane (22 goals, three assists), Michael Olise (seven goals, seven assists) and Luis Diaz (eight goals, five assists). In addition they have Serge Gnabry and youngster Lennart Karl, who are in excellent form themselves. Find out more in our in-depth opposition profile.
The Werkself can again count on the support of 6,000 travelling Leverkusen fans at the Allianz Arena as they look to extend their Bundesliga record run of 37 away games without defeat.
The German FA (DFB) have appointed the experienced Deniz Aytekin to oversee this game. It’s his 42nd involving Bayer 04 (W18, D9, L14). The 47-year-old previously took charge of the 3-1 win at home to Eintracht Frankfurt this season, which included two sumptuous goals from free-kicks by Alejandro Grimaldo. Christian Leicher and Christian Gittelmann are the assistants, with Pascal Müller as VAR in Cologne.

Werkself TV shows highlights of the 2-0 win at Olympiacos in the first leg of the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 league...
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The Werkself beat Olympiacos 2-0 in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League play-off first leg to claim a crucial victory in the Greek capital. After a focused first-half display with a number of presentable chances, Patrik Schick crowned a textbook counter to hand the Werkself the lead on the hour (60’). The Czech rounded off his brace when he headed in from a corner just 144 seconds later. Bayer 04 maintained their lead with aplomb to achieve a good position for the return leg in Leverkusen.
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Bayer 04 and Olympiacos had only met twice before the current UEFA Champions campaign. After the encounter on Matchday 7 of this season’s league phase, the Werkself travel to face the Greek side for the second time in just four weeks for the knockout play-off first leg. The Black and Reds were dominant for large spells in mid-January but lost 2-0 after missing a number of presentable chances. The Werkself aim to do better on Wednesday night to “seize the chance for revenge,” as managing director sport Simon Rolfes put it. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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A bitter end to the fifth showdown of the 2025/26 VBL Club Championship as the #B04eSports team failed to take any points in the three remaining matches of the preliminary online round of the fifth and final showdown, missing out on the offline round. They can no longer take points in the overall table. Bayer 04 slipped out on the top eight, so direct participation in the final event for the German Club Championship is no longer possible, with Bayer 04 having to contest the play-offs.
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