Hunt for the championship title

Bayern or Leverkusen? Experts agree

Last season, the "Wekself" dethroned FC Bayern.

(Bild: Associated Press)

After eleven years, Bayer Leverkusen have ended Bayern Munich's dominance of the German Bundesliga. Accordingly, Xabi Alonso's team is once again one of the big favorites alongside Munich this year. Some experts also see it that way ...

The "Werkself" want to follow up their first championship title with a title defense that only Bayern and Dortmund have managed in the past 41 years. Sky experts Lothar Matthäus and Dietmar Hamann believe Leverkusen are capable of this and also rate Bayer as the strongest team in the season starting on Friday - and not the former serial champions Bayern.

"Clear advantages"
Leverkusen have "clear advantages" compared to Bayern, BVB and other clubs, Matthäus said in an interview with "Sportbild". "Coach Alonso has been there for almost two years. The team has been kept together and sensibly supplemented," said Germany's record international. There is "calm" at the club. "Leverkusen ahead of Bayern, Dortmund and Leipzig," predicted the 63-year-old. "Leipzig could spring a surprise, as they do almost every year. But there's usually no way around Leverkusen."

Champion coach Xabi Alonso

(Bild: AFP)

Hamann's assessment is similar. "Bayern will have their hands full again to keep up with Leverkusen. Leverkusen have played incredibly dominant soccer, they've kept the scaffolding in place, it's a very well-functioning machine. They won't go through the season unbeaten again, but for me they are the team to beat," he explained in the APA interview.

Didi Hamann

(Bild: Sky)

Bayern are upgrading
While almost everything has remained the same at Bayer, Bayern have been more active on the transfer market and have strengthened their squad with Joao Palhinha, Michael Olise and Hiroki Ito. They have also brought in a new coach in Vincent Kompany. The Belgian was once a team-mate of Hamann and "an incredibly meticulous player, always a leader, and he has learned from the best (note: Pep Guardiola and Roberto Mancini). But it's new territory. You have to see if he fits in with Munich, others have tried and failed to do that.

Hamann rated the purchases positively, but not the sale of defender Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United. "He is a player who has leadership qualities. Upamecano, Kim or Ito first have to prove that. De Ligt would have been the first to say I'd build a defense around him," said Hamann.

Laimer an "absolute leading player"
For him, one of Bayern's bright spots in a generally disappointing last season was Konrad Laimer. "He has developed into an absolute leading player. He came in as a supplementary player, developed over the course of the season into perhaps the most important player in a team that didn't really work out, that was outstanding. In the last three or four months, he was probably the first midfielder on the score sheet in the important games," said the TV pundit. Whether this will change with the signing of Palhinha remains to be seen.

Konrad Laimer in a duel with Real's Vinicius Junior

(Bild: AFP/APA/Michaela STACHE)

Should Dortmund and Leipzig also be able to intervene in the title fight, Hamann will also be looking to Austria's team players Marcel Sabitzer (Dortmund), Christoph Baumgartner and Nicolas Seiwald (Leipzig). "If Dortmund want to attack in the league, they will need a Sabitzer in the form of last season," Hamann is convinced. He would also have seen Seiwald in good hands at BVB. "For me, he would have been the perfect player for Dortmund. I'm a big fan of his. Unfortunately, he had an incredibly difficult time in Leipzig, and you have to see in his second season. He's a player who has to play every week for me, and if not in Leipzig, then somewhere else," said Hamann.

Potential in Wolfsburg
He is also looking to Wolfsburg with curiosity. Styrian Ralph Hasenhüttl took over VfL in March and led them to twelfth place. Hasenhüttl's most important task is "to awaken the potential that lies dormant in the team. It has been dormant for too long. Wolfsburg is always an exciting story for me. If they are in the top three after six rounds, I wouldn't be surprised, and if they end up in the bottom three, I wouldn't be surprised either," said Hamann.