Arsenal’s push for an unprecedented quadruple, as well as our first ever Champions League, will face its latest obstacle in the shape of Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Wednesday.
It will be our first competitive meeting with Leverkusen since a 4-1 triumph in 2002. Remarkably, Leverkusen went onto reach the Champions League final that season, losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in Glasgow. That was a campaign of three incredible near misses for Leverkusen. First, they threw away the Bundesliga title on the final day of the season, then lost the DFB Pokal final (German Cup) and lastly, experienced that painful night in Glasgow. This hat-trick of silver medals earnt Bayer the tag of “Neverkusen” courtesy of the German press. Ouch!
They failed to shake off that unwanted tag until the 2023/24 campaign in which Xabi Alonso masterminded a remarkable invincible double as Bayer completed an entire Bundesliga season without losing, as well as winning the DFB Pokal. It would have been an invincible treble had they not lost the Europa League final to Atalanta in the final game of their season but all the same, it was a remarkable feat. Of course, it’s not quite as impressive as our own invincible campaign as the Bundesliga only has 18 teams which means 34 games, four less than the Premier League. We of course extended our unbeaten run to 49 games. But I suppose not everybody can be as great as The Arsenal.
Remarkably, that was Leverkusen’s first ever league title. They are not the most popular club in Germany as they are owned by the pharmaceutical company, Bayer Pharmaceuticals. I am not entirely sure why this is so frowned upon by many Germans. As far as I can tell, there is no state funding going on and all their finances are above board. I think it is fair to say there are much bigger enemies in German football. No prizes for guessing which club I’m referring to here!
In terms of links between the two clubs, two of our players will return to their former stomping ground. Firstly, Kai Havertz came through the ranks in the Leverkusen academy, making a big impact on the first team as a youngster and was coveted by a host of Europe’s top clubs before his move to Chelsea in 2020. It is believed that Arteta expressed significant interest in Kai before his move to Chelsea. Given that he eventually left for around £80 million, you can only assume we were priced out of a move at the time due to our financial position at that time. Arteta got his man in the end, as he so often has done.
The other is of course, Piero Hincapié, who is still technically a Bayer Leverkusen player given he joined us on loan, but we all know the permanence of that move is a formality. Due to UEFA regulations differing from those of the Premier League’s, Hincapié will be eligible to face his parent club.
Regarding team news, it has been reported that Saliba and Ben White were both in training and should hopefully be available for selection. We will see a strong team with the hope of securing a big enough victory to be able to rest a number of key players for the second leg ahead of next Sunday’s cup final.
I think we will see a team something like this;
Raya
Timber Saliba Gabriel Hincapie
Zubimendi Eze Rice
Saka Gyökeres Martinelli
I think we will win relatively comfortably given Leverkusen currently sit sixth in the Bundesliga and have lost so many key players since their title win two years ago. I’ll go for a 3-0 away win.
COYG
Excellent preview 21CG, I can’t see past your proposed team.
WHile I would be absolutely delighted to see us come home with a 3-0 victory uner our belts, I think a nervy 2-1 is more likely. I’d be happy to take any sort of win.
I suspect that Leverkusen’s domestic unpopularity may not be unconnected with the fact that Bayer Pharmaceuticals is one of the companies formed when IG Farben was broken up by the Allies after the War due to its connections with the National Socialist Party.
Your team looks pretty spot-on, 21CG, with the usual caveats about not knowing how much Arteta is dissembling about the injuries. I’l take your 3-0 in a heartbeat.
To add to Pangloss’s comments on the unpopularity of Bayern, their corporate ownership annoys the fans of other clubs, most of which are member owned in the Bundesliga. Bayer’s ultras double down on this by calling themselves things like the Factory Men and the Tablet Turners (Bayer invented Asprin) — a bit like Millwall fans saying, No one likes us, and we don’t care.
Who is the mystery person in the team photo above in the front row between Lee Dixon and TH14?
Thanks 21CG, hope you are having a good trip.
Neverkusen is quite witty of the German press. I remember being annoyed
that they made the final as we easily outplayed them at home and had given
away a late equalizer in a 1-1 in Germany in the group stage.
To stick a further boot into Bayer Pharma, their Japanese subsidiary here in
Osaka also had a bad reputation, on the dark side apparently!
But that team looks about right to me too, though Leo
might start I suppose or even Eze as Leo / Gabi M have
both looked out of form recently.
2-0 for me, but any win will do or even a draw really as
I expect us to put them away at home,
Just watched the first 25 minutes of the Keystone Spuds,
Atlético weren’t even that good.
Excellent preview 21CG, thank you! And thanks CER for the Mansfield FA cup review, and for the photo of the Wenger quote.
I think Kai should start tomorrow in a more central #10 role, playing close to Gyökeres. It’s a ground and atmosphere he is well familiar with, and Eze’s away experience in Europe is limited. Leverkusen will see the home match as their best chance of winning the tie and will try to play on the front foot. There will be spaces in their defense and Havertz and Viktor combine well in those situations. Eze to come in for Havertz later in the second half after we have taken control of the game.
The greater counterattacking possibilities should also get Martinelli a start, he has been very effective in CL this season. On the other hand, starting with Leo to have more control of the match and bringing Martinelli in for the final thirty minutes when the spaces would open up more may work better.
Leverkusen is sixth in the Bundesliga table, and in their last five matches they won two, drew two, lost one. Their goal difference in the domestic league is 48-32. Encouraging enough for them to play their natural style I think and not to be defensive. Hopefully we can take early control and see out a convincing win to protect back at home next week.
Raya
Timber-Saliba-Gabriel-Hincapié
Havertz-Zubimendi-Rice
Saka-Gyökeres-Martinelli
Come on Arsenal!
Nice one 21CG.
Bayern walloped Atalanta to kill the tie last night. That would be the dream, and I think your 3-0 would get it done.
Pool lost to Gala by the only goal, but will also feel they’ve got every chance of overturning the deficit at home. So we should have some wiggle room, whatever happens. But I’d love us to show our class and put them to the sword.
UTA.
Thanks 21st
I just watched last night’s highlights and Bayern were impressive, one to watch again.
As for Spuds, oh dear oh dear. You have to have some humanity and feel for the keeper, playing behind that defensive unit would make anyone anxious.
I wonder at what point the Spuds will release the video of their 25/26 season and doubt that it will ask to mind the gap.
As for tonight, obviously a must-win, I fancy us for 2-0 and a solid performance,
UTA
Thanks for a succinct and focused preview 21CG. I think you’ve called the team correctly and I hope you’ve called the result correctly too. However the sixth placed team in the Bundesliga may not be substantially easier to beat than a tenth placed team in the Premier League. I hope Dr F’s prognostication that they will play on the front foot is correct ant that our defence holds firm and our attack exploit their gaps. Then we may see that 3-0 victory. As the preview suggests, a win in Leverkusen that makes the home leg a formality would ease our path to the League Cup Final.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s unpopularity may relate more to its owner, Bayer AG than to the club or its playing style. The town was founded for his workers by a chemist, Carl Leverkus, when he chose the site on the bank of the Rhine to build a dye factory in 1860. Leverkus’ factory was taken over by Bayer, another dye manufacturer, in 1891 which made a fortune from its development of Aspirin in 1899 and later developed several other novel therapeutic agents. It joined several other German pharmaceutical companies to become IG Farben in 1925 which was subsequently split into its constituent companies in 1945 because of its involvement in Nazi atrocities including the production of Zyklon B, the gas used in the death camps. Bayer AG became a post-war economic success but became notorious for its employment of ex-Nazis and then in 2016 merged with the US multinational Monsanto, notorious for the toxicity of its herbicide Roundup. The company philosophy might indeed be ‘no-one likes us, we don’t care’!
You gotta wonder about a man with such an ego he names his football club after himself.
To be fair, it’s why I have always been suspicious of our own illustrious founder, Sir Donald Arse.
Heh, GSD @9. The club was founded and named in 1904 by workers in the paint factory which dominated the firm’s activities in that era, mirroring the founding of multiple clubs in the UK over the preceding 25 years. Leverkus simply named the settlement he built for his workers Leverkusen after his family home. The city of Leverkusen was founded and named for Carl Leverkus in 1930, long after his death, by the amalgamation of 4 villages adjacent to the burgeoning workers’ town.
To similarly honour a man whose work has transformed an area, I would suggest that Highbury be renamed Chapmanville and Ashburton Grove Wengerton.
Sir Donald Arse should be revered not suspected.
GSD@10: 🙂
There is an oddball Lever connection in that William Lever, one of the soap-manufacturing Lever Brothers, also built a model company village, but called it Port Sunlight.
Until the mid-1990s, Bayer had another football club in the town where it had its second-largest chemical plant, FC Bayer 05 Uerdingen, which now plays in the fifth tier of German football as KFC Uerdingen 05.
KFC have a German football team? Whatever next? I can see the MLS before too long containing the likes of Burger Kings, Big Mac Specials, Dairy Queens and Taco Belles.
Thanks 21CG – and thanks Bath for the history and context re Bayer and its products. Not difficult to see why they may not be much loved.
Team news
Arsenal XI: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Rice, Eze, Saka, Martinelli, Gyokeres.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Ranson, Mosquera, White, Jesus, Norgaard, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon.
Raya
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie
Zubimendi, Rice, Eze
Saka, Martinelli, Gyokeres
Bench: Arrizabalaga, Ranson, White, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Mosquera, Salmon, Norgaard, Madueke, Dowman, Havertz, Jesus.
Ranson is Khari Ranson, England U19 keeper.
Bath@14: 🙂
While the K is for Krefelder, which is a place, there is a Japanese baseball team called the Nippon Ham Fighters, so who knows what foodie names football clubs might end up with? The Tottenham Toast?
Late to the party. Very nice preview 21CG; some informative builds, Bath; good looking team, Mikel – good to see you’re trying to play Eze into a winning groove – now just go win, Arsenal.
In other news, what’s the skinny on our captain??
BTM @20
His National coach says he should be back by late March and fully fit for The Arsenal through April and May.
I’ll put a fiver on the toast to come up burnt and singed. Thanks 21cg for your excellent preview, and COYG
Played well enough, but not well enough to lead. 0-0 at the half about right.
Would you bring on Dowman for the last 10?
Get in Kai.
Have to take that from 1-0 down I guess.
1-1 just about fair. We certainly didn’t deserve more. Who was that in Saka’s shirt tonight? Certainly not Bukayo. That penalty was most welcome – I was nervous when I saw Kai on the spot given that he has hardly played for a year.
Me too BtM but fortunately Kai was calmer than us 😃
Not sure how happy I’d be if that penalty was given against us but
1-1 is a better feeling than losing that’s for sure.
Noni was a good sub
@21, C100 – maybe we’ll have the Ben White, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard triangle of excellence whistling down the right in April and May?
Second best team on the park tonight but got out of Dodge with a point. Worst I’ve ever seen Saka play. Never gave up but very out of sorts. Thankyou Noni.
Noni – magician.
Kai Havertz – balls of steel.
I fancy our chances next Tuesday.
I think we got the best result of any of the six PL teams
in the last 16.
It’s half-time in the tie, all square and all to play for.
I wonder when the first why oh why article about the
failure of the PL teams to win will come out.
I will summarize to save time
Spuds – useless
Cheaty, Chavski, Riyadh Rovers – Dennis hates cheats
Mugsmashers – strangely overrated attack
The Arsenal – astute tactical ploy
For Bayer’s goal, it looked like Eze was moving to cover Andrich, the scorer, when he was hauled down by Maza. That would have earned a VAR review in the PL.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>