5 reasons Leverkusen will win the Supercup

Leverkusen have not lost to a German team since 27 May 2023. Note: that is not a typo. They went through the entire 2023/24 Bundesliga campaign unbeaten – the first club ever to do so - en route to claiming a maiden top-flight title and also lifted the DFB Cup. That is a total of 40 games against domestic opposition without losing, and they won 34 of those. Simply awesome.

Despite all their success last season, don’t expect Leverkusen to now bask in the glory of their historic achievements.

“The past doesn’t get you any points, it doesn’t win you any games,” noted coach Xabi Alonso after seeing his team given a wake-up call via a 4-1 pre-season friendly loss to Arsenal recently. "It's my responsibility to keep that hunger alive within the team. We need to feel the competition and not dwell too much on our past achievements. The players have expressed their desire to continue pushing forward."

That players certainly are determined to do that, as Florian Wirtz, such a key figure for both Leverkusen last season and Germany at UEFA EURO 2024, described in a bundesliga.com exclusive.

“I want to build up on my performances and, above all, to get a bit better. We also want to be successful as a team and I don't think it would do us any good if we rested on what we achieved last season," said the 2023/24 Bundesliga Player of the Year. "Instead we have to try to keep pushing, get even better and then compete with the other teams again.”

Stuttgart did not figure out a way to defeat Leverkusen last season (to be fair, only Atalanta did), but did suffer just one defeat in three meetings with Alonso’s team. Both league games were drawn while it took a late, late Jonathan Tah goal to see off Sebastian Hoeneß’s team in a dramatic DFB Cup quarter-final in which Leverkusen twice came from behind.

Drawing is, however, as close as Stuttgart have come to defeating Leverkusen in the duo’s last 12 competitive meetings. You have to go back to a 1-0 away win – courtesy of a Christian Gentner goal - in late April 2018 on Matchday 32 of the 2017/18 season for Stuttgart’s last victory against Die Werkself and even that is their only triumph in the pair’s last 26 competitive meetings.

Both coaches will be experiencing their first Supercup, but the Leverkusen boss has already gotten his hands on the trophy as a player. He was part of the Bayern side that defeated Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in 2016 thanks to second-half goals from Arturo Vidal and Thomas Müller. He did also play in the 2015 edition against Wolfsburg, but may not remember that one quite so fondly: Bayern were beaten that day in a penalty shoot-out.

Things come in threes, they say, which means Leverkusen’s name is already on the Super Cup. Before last May, the BayArena trophy cabinet held only the 1988 UEFA Cup and the 1993 DFB Cup, but has had to be enlarged to make room for the 2023/24 Meisterschale and DFB Cup, and adding the Super Cup would not only complete an impressive hat-trick, but also match the Bayern Munich side of 2020. Like the Bundesliga title, Leverkusen are yet to win the Super Cup and have only played in it once before: they lost 7-6 on penalties to Werder Bremen in 1993 after a 2-2 draw in normal time.