Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen are the first team to complete an entire Bundesliga season without defeat after a remarkable 2023/24 campaign that also saw Germany’s new champions set a European record of 51 games in a row without loss across all competitions.
It is a remarkable achievement for Xabi Alonso‘s side, who beat Augsburg 2-1 on Matchday 34 to conclude the 2023/24 campaign with 28 wins, six draws and zero defeats.
In doing so they have now become Germany’s ‘Invincibles’ as the first team ever to go undefeated in a Bundesliga season.
Watch: Bayer Leverkusen’s road to the Bundesliga title
It is not the first time they have made history this term. When Leverkusen ran out 2-1 winners over Mainz on Bundesliga Matchday 23 to make it 33 games unbeaten, the Werkself surpassed Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich team of 2020 and 2021 in the record books for the longest run without defeat by a German side in all competitions. Another remarkable fact is that Die Werkself achieved the feat inside a single campaign.
Watch: Highlights of Leverkusen’s record-breaking Mainz win
That result also took Leverkusen level with Juventus for the longest undefeated streak by a team in one of Europe’s top five leagues at 43 matches (across 2011 and 2012). The Werkself subsequently rewrote the record books with an unprecedented 44th game unbeaten as they drew 1-1 away at West Ham United to book a place in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.
Leverkusen’s streak was seconds from being ended in Dortmund on Matchday 30, when Josip Stanišić equalised in the seventh minute of added time – one of many goals beyond the 90 minutes this season – to make it 45 competitive matches without loss.
Watch: Leverkusen’s game-deciding goals in 2023/24
Incredibly, Leverkusen again left it to the very last kick of the ball to salvage the hot streak the following week, as a Robert Andrich finish in the 97th minute of a thrilling 2-2 draw against VfB Stuttgart put the champions just three matches away from becoming the first ever team to complete an entire Bundesliga season unbeaten.
Fresh from a 2-0 win in Rome that put one foot in the door of the Europa League final, Bayer moved to within two games of history thanks to victory at Eintracht Frankfurt, whilst matching Benfica’s 48-game European record that had stood for 59 years.
They went one better in the second leg against Roma, recovering from 2-0 down on the night to claim the record outright. Stanišić was again the hero, equalising in the 97th minute. A routine win at Bochum on Matchday 33 then stretched the run to 50, with the triumph over Augsburg making it a new European record of 51.
Watch: Leverkusen’s 51-game unbeaten run
Bayer were the only team across Europe’s top five leagues per UEFA coefficient not to have tasted defeat in 2023/24 until their Europa League final loss to Atalanta. They won a remarkable 42 out of 51 fixtures prior to that reverse – being held to a draw on only nine occasions and failing to score just once (0-0 vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach on Matchday 19) – before bouncing back to win the DFB Cup and complete a domestic double.
Leverkusen end the 2023/24 season with a record of 53 games played, 43 wins, nine draws and one loss. Domestically, they did not lose across 34 Bundesliga and six DFB Cup fixtures. Alonso’s class of 2023/24 are only the sixth team in history to win a German double.
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