Page 42 - Soccer360 Issue 106

BUNDESLIGA SEASON REVIEW
FACTS
Bayer Leverkusen has scored
87 goals in
23/24 before playing their
final Bundesliga match of the season. It’s
Die Werkself’s highest scoring Bundesliga season of all time.
Aged 35
years and 143 days, Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels is the oldest German ever to score a goal in a UEFA Champions League knockout match.
TEAM W-D-L PTS
Leverkusen 28-6-0 90
Vfb Stuttgart 23-4-7 73
Bayern Munich 23-3-8 72
RB Leipzig 19-8-7 65
Dortmund 18-9-7 63
Eintracht Frankfurt* 11-14-9 47
Hoffenheim 13-7-14 46
Heidenheim 10-12-12 42
Vfl Bochum 7-12-15 33
Koln 5-12-17 27
Darmstadt 3-8-23 17
“STUTTGART WERE ANOTHER TEAM WHO EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS IN 2023-24”
ABOVE:
Stuttgart’s Silas Katompa Mvumpa celebrates with Stuttgart’s Maximilian Mittelstädt (r) after his goal
FAR RIGHT:
Openda scored an amazing
24 goals this season
RIGHT:
Harry Kane may have claimed the Golden Boot, but his Bayern team ended 2023-24 without any silverware
NAME TEAM GOALS
SEASON
STATISTICS
2023 / 24 SEASON TABLE
Werder
SC Freiburg Augsburg Wikfsburg
Mainz Monchengladbach Union Berlin
Champs Lge.
Europa Lge.
11-9-14 42 11-9-14 42 10-9-15 39 10-7-17 37 7-14-13 35 7-13-14 34 9-6-19 33
Confrnc Lge.
Relegation
* Could be champions league or europa league depending if Dortmund wins champions league
2023 / 24 LEADING SCORERS
the attention of even the most casual football observers across Europe.
It is safe to say that Bayer Leverkusen
have earned themselves quite a few
more supporters thanks to their brilliant
and fearless showings throughout the season under a manager who has more
than exceeded expectations. When Xabi Alonso arrived back in October 2022, die Werkself were truly a team in freefall. Alonso inherited a team who were in the midst of their worst start to a season since 1979,
and given that Leverkusen were only just above the drop zone, the overall consensus was that Alonso’s hiring was merely to help Leverkusen avoid a rather embarrassing drop down into the 2.Bundesliga.
In the absence of expectations, the unexpected happened. Alonso not only helped Leverkusen avoid the drop, but
also guided them into the semi-finals of
the UEFA Europa League. A sixth placed finish ensured that die Werkself got another chance to test their mettle in European
club football’s second tier competition, and all in all, left the club in a good position to continue rebuilding after that nightmare start to 2022-23. However, nobody could have possibly imagined the extent of the transformation that Alonso was about to enact at the BayArena in his first full season in charge.
Leverkusen didn’t just compete with Bayern Munich for top spot - they left them trailing
Harry Kane S. Guirassy L. Openda D. Undav M. Beier
A. Kramaric E. Demirovic V. Boniface B. Sesko
D. Malen
N. Fullkrug M. Ducksch O. Marmoush T. Kleindienst F. Wirtz
J. Wind
J. Musiala
A. Grimaldo
Bayern Munich 36 Stuttgart 28 RB Leipzig 24 Stuttgart 18 Hoffenheim 16 Hoffenheim 15 Augsburg 15 Leverkusen 14 RB Leipzig 14 Dortmund 13 Dortmund 12 Werder Bremmen 12 Frankfurt 12 Heidenheim 12 Leverkusen 11 Wolfsburg 11 Bayern Munich 10 Leverkusen 10
40 SOCCER360 SUMMER 2024