English 
Is Leverkusen really finish the season unbeaten?!
Bayern simply cannot be beaten this season, but every streak is broken once. That’s what the bookies are paying for Xabi Alonso’s team’s unbeaten league season.
Words have long since run out for Leverkusen, who with Wednesday’s cup semi-final success have been unbeaten in 40 (!) games in almost 11 months!
The team’s supporters have had a good spit-up after a long and disappointing year, and the painful memory of 2002 still haunts them to this day. That year, three major trophies were only sung out of the team’s mouths in the last game, but the nickname Neverkusen (Vicekusen) may finally be dropped in 2024. In fact, many have already renamed the pharmaceutical outfit Neverloosen (Never Gets It, funnily enough), as they remain in contention to lift three major trophies.
Bayer have won the German Cup (1993) and Europa League (1988) – its predecessor, the UEFA Cup – once, but have never won the Bundesliga. Five second-place finishes have left the club with a sore spot, but it looks as if the 2023/24 season will finally bring it all together.
Kusen’s treble is currently available at odds of 4.56 times on -, but the composition of this is interesting. They’re such favourites in the league that they’re not even a betting favourite, and the German Cup final would only be worth 1.05 times if they lifted the trophy, with only the Europa League throwing up odds as Liverpool are favourites, so a German EL win would be worth 4.35 times odds.
Remaining league games for Leverkusen: @Union Berlin, Werder Bremen, @Borussia Dortmund, Stuttgart, @Frankfurt, @Bochum, Augsburg
In the Bundesliga, however, Leverkusen have a 13-point lead over second-placed Bayern Munich after 27 rounds. Mathematically, they do not yet have the salad bowl, but Thomas Tuchel has already congratulated them after their troubles against Dortmund. The big question remains, therefore, whether an unbeaten Bundesliga season can be achieved. The Wirtzes have dropped just eight points so far (27 league games, 23 wins, 4 draws, goal difference +49) and barring an unexpected downturn, they could be celebrating historic gold as early as April.
The most dangerous of the remaining rounds is perhaps the trip to Dortmund, which Alonso’s side could not cope with at home in the autumn (1-1), although they would probably be perfectly happy to settle for Remi. It is interesting to note that the last team to beat Bayer in a competitive match was Bochum in the last round last May. Now, with one round to go, they travel to the Vonovia Ruhrstadion where revenge could be sweet and, if need be, they could secure their unbeaten season against Augsburg in front of their home crowd – a scenario for which is offering odds of just 2.375 times.
