Can Anyone Stop Leverkusen? Bayern On the Hunt Without Kane

With a 5-0 victory over 10-man Bochum on Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen extended their winning streak this season to 50 games. The last team to upset Xabi Alonso's team in any competition was Bochum, who downed a 10-man Leverkusen in May 2023. However, on Sunday, the roles were reversed, with five different players scoring goals for Leverkusen. The league winners under Alonso are just one win away from becoming the first undefeated team in Bundesliga history and three wins away from an incredible treble.

We couldn't have imagined how much the Bundesliga title meant to the club and the fans.

Next week we'll hold the trophy high in our own stadium, which will be emotional and beautiful. After that we're off to Dublin and Berlin and we want to grab both titles and go on holiday with the triple in our backpacks.

Leverkusen plays second-division Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final three days later in late May, after facing Atalanta in the Europa League final in Dublin.

Felix Passlack's last-man foul on Nathan Tella saw him sent off, giving Bochum an early man advantage. Due to an injury, Alonso had to substitute attacking midfield maestro Florian Wirtz. By halftime, both Patrik Schick and Victor Boniface had scored goals.

After forty-one minutes, Schick finished brilliantly with a first touch after Arthur crossed the ball. Five minutes later, after Tella was fouled in the box, Boniface scored from the penalty spot.

Bayern has no issues without Kane

With a drastically altered lineup, Thomas Tuchel's Bayern Munich team easily defeated Wolfsburg at home, winning 2-0 to go ahead of Stuttgart into second place.

Harry Kane, the captain of England, missed his first league game of the season due to back problems, thus Tuchel made eight changes to the team that was ousted from the Champions League with a 2-1 loss at Real Madrid on Wednesday.

With just one game left to go, Kane, who has scored 36 goals in the league this season, will have one chance to tie Robert Lewandowski's all-time record of 41 goals if the England captain returns the following week.

Manuel Neuer, the captain of Bayern, was pleased with his team's response to the disappointing and contentious loss to Real.

We were in control for over 90 minutes and got into the game well, that was crucial," Neuer stated to DAZN.

Real was difficult to deal with, today we had to ignore it - we did a good job of that.

With one game left, Bayern's victory moves them two points clear of Stuttgart in second place.

Just 19-year-old Croatian midfielder Lovro Zvonarek marked his first start with a goal after four minutes. Within ten minutes, Thomas Mueller had set up Leon Goretzka.

Spain's Bryan Zaragoza, who was also making his first league start for Bayern, had a goal disallowed four minutes after Goretzka's strike.

Late in the second half, Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz entered the game in place of Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, who was participating in his 500th Bundesliga match. Additionally, teenagers Jonathan Asp-Jensen and Matteo Perez Vinlof appeared.

Daniel has given the team so much and shown good performances, he simply deserves to get minutes," Neuer stated.

Hoffenheim Improves Hopes

After 27 games, Wolfsburg has not triumphed in the capital of Bayern due to this loss. Hoffenheim improved their hopes of making it to Europe earlier on Sunday when they defeated Darmstadt, who had already been demoted, 6-0.
In the match against the bottom squad, Ihlas Bebou and Maximilian Beier each scored two goals, while Pavel Kaderabek and Ozan Kabak, a former center back for Liverpool, also added goals.