Leverkusen 2024: closer to perfection than anyone

The season of impossibility

120 years of club history, zero championships — until Xabi Alonso arrived. Bayer 04 started 2023/24 like a team without fear and simply never stopped winning: a record start, top of the table all winter, and on matchday 29 the exclamation point — a 5-0 demolition of Werder Bremen that sealed the first league title in club history with five games to spare. Florian Wirtz crowned the night with a hat-trick, the fans stormed the pitch, and the word “Neverkusen” was buried for good.

The final tally: 90 points, 28 wins, 6 draws, 0 defeats — the first unbeaten championship season in Bundesliga history, ending Bayern’s eleven-year streak. The DFB-Pokal followed (a 1-0 final win over Kaiserslautern). Across all competitions the Werkself went 51 straight games unbeaten before the Europa League final against Atalanta (0-3) delivered the season’s only defeat. The full chronicle of near-perfection is in the perfect season chronicle.

“Leverkusen-Time”: the late-goal machine

What separated this team from every near-perfect side before it: they never lost — but they were far from always leading. Leverkusen flipped dozens of games after the 85th minute and scored dozens of stoppage-time goals; “Leverkusen-Time” became a household phrase. Certain defeats turned into draws, draws into wins. That resilience was no accident but design: Alonso’s team played every match as if 98 minutes were the actual length of a game.

And this is exactly where the gap to perfection sits. The six draws — including 2-2 against Bayern and 1-1 in Dortmund — were the games where even stoppage time ran out. Between “unbeaten” (0 defeats) and “perfect” (34 wins) lie precisely those six afternoons. More on the rarity of the zero in the loss column: unbeaten seasons — the honest record.

The architecture

Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 was control as a way of life. Xhaka ran the midfield and basically never missed a minute; Wirtz dazzled between the lines; Grimaldo and Frimpong were Europe’s most productive wide players from wing-back; Boniface led the line before injury pushed Schick into the spotlight. Behind them: Tah marshalling the back three, Hradecky as the final insurance. A team without a structural weakness — every position doubled up, every pattern rehearsed.

The decisive trait was balance: Leverkusen could dominate games (over 60% possession on average) but also suffer and strike on the break. That stylistic clarity — possession as identity, patience as weapon — makes the Werkself as predictable as they are dangerous in the game.

Leverkusen 23/24 in the game

In the simulator exactly this side appears as a title boss: strength 88 (an editorial approximation), possession style — the second-toughest nut in the league behind Bayern 12/13. The possession identity is your angle of attack: Gegenpressing beats possession in the counter triangle — disrupt the Werkself early and you take away their rhythm, exactly the blueprint Atalanta used in the final. Details in the tactics guide and on the tactics page.

But be warned: the counter bonus alone beats nothing against strength 88. You need a title-calibre squad, ideally home advantage — and the discipline to save “fresh legs” for exactly these two matchdays. The full portrait with all ratings: Leverkusen 23/24 team profile.

What remains

Leverkusen proved that “unbeaten” is possible in the modern Bundesliga — against eleven years of Bayern dominance, without a single defeat. “Perfect” stayed open, and that is exactly why this game exists. Can you turn the six draws into wins? The rules are in how to play — the hunt starts on matchday one.

FAQ

Last updated: 2026-08-03