Bayer Leverkusen won the Bundesliga not that long ago, and they’re one of the few German teams to make the knockouts of the Champions League. Despite this, their CEO does not think they can catch Bayern Munich any time soon.
“It hurts me that Bayern are dominating the league so much,” said Fernando Carro in an interview with Bild. “Of course, they have three times our budget, but they’ve done a lot of good work over the years. Nevertheless, you have to try to give them a hard time. We managed to do that in 2024.”
Of course, 2024 was a very bad year for the Bavarians, particularly due to the influence of Thomas Tuchel. Few coaches could have managed the abject performances that the current England NT boss harnessed from his team.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, were flying under the tutelage of Xabi Alonso. Players like Florian Wirtz, Alejandro Grimaldo, Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah, and even Josip Stanišić (ironically on loan from FC Bayern) made it so that Leverkusen few to an unbeaten Bundesliga title. That team was slowly picked apart in subsequent seasons, and after losing Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, Leverkusen currently languish in 6th place.
Still Carro thinks that Leverkusen can challenge for the title again. Not this year, or even next year, but in “2028 or 2029”, per his own words. For now, they turn their sights on Arsenal, who they face in the Champions League. No one expects them to win. But, if they want to challenge a team like Bayern — maybe putting up a fight would be a good start.
