Bayer Leverkusen vs. VfB Stuttgart: How do they stack up?
Defending Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen play host to VfB Stuttgart on Friday knowing that a win could cut the gap behind leading duo Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig, while the eighth-placed Swabians will be out to emulate their giant-killing 5-1 win over Borussia Dortmund to stay in touch with the leading pack. bundesliga.com takes a look at where the game could be won... or lost.
Both sides enjoyed unprecedented Bundesliga campaigns in 2023/24, clocking more wins and claiming more points than ever before in their respective histories. For Leverkusen this meant claiming a first-ever Bundesliga title and ending the season undefeated, while for Stuttgart it meant a giant leap from their relegation play-off finish (16th) in 2022/23 to second place and UEFA Champions League football in the space of just one year.
Sophomore syndrome?
A tough act to follow? Certainly. And it's fascinating to note that the two sides have been gripped by similar trends in the current campaign. Despite the fact that Bayer and their impending opponents boast the division's second- and third-best attacks respectively, both sides find themselves with fewer points than at the same stage last season - largely due to "defending too softly", which has become something of a refrain for Xabi Alonso, notably after the loss to Leipzig and the recent draw with Werder Bremen. The Spaniard's side have conceded 15 goals this season, and Sebastian Hoeneß's men 16, whereas at this point last season, the numbers were roughly half that at seven and eight respectively.
Watch: Leverkusen finally beaten by Leipzig on Matchday 2
It seems that both sides are playing less cautious football this season, with neither yet to register a clean sheet after eight matchdays, but this approach is also yielding goals. Die Werkself have plundered 20, a total bested only by Bayern's league-record early-season haul of 29, while Stuttgart rank third with 17. Those are some pretty impressive averages of over two goals a game, but what's really interesting here is the way there two teams are going about it.
Styles make fights
Leverkusen have powerful target man Victor Boniface as their focal point in attack, but the six-goal Nigerian is just one of an impressive 10 players to have found the net for Alonso this term. Meanwhile for the Swabians, 'only' five players have scored, but two of them - Deniz Undav and Ermedin Demirović - have bagged five apiece. And with these two distinct versions of a diversified scoring portfolio, the sides also boast different specialisations in terms of how they score their goals.
Watch: All Victor Boniface's Bundesliga goals
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The champions are a real threat from set pieces, their three goals from corners representing the highest such tally in the league, while only Wolfsburg have topped their five goals from dead balls. On the other hand, Stuttgart aren't fussy as to how they score - they just like to do it late: no fewer than nine of their 17 league goals this season haver come in the second half. While this stat is topped only by Bayern, VfB are outright leaders on the division's drama chart with their five goals scored in the final 15 minutes and two in injury time!
Watch: Stuttgart snatch a late, late draw against Hoffenheim
In terms of both sides' overall approach, dominating the ball is clearly a priority, and both clubs sit in the top four of the possession chart, with 55 percent for Bayer and 57.5 percent for Stuttgart. Hoeneß and Alonso also like their sides to take the game to their opponents, and while Leverkusen top the league for sprints, with 1,944 compared to Stuttgart's 1,708, both outfits are fearsome ball winners, with an identical 52.3 percent of challenges won.
Wirtz vs. Millot
One of the most important match-ups in this Matchday 9 blockbuster will be between two rising attacking midfield stars: Bayer's Germany star Florian Wirtz (21) and Stuttgart's France U23 international Enzo Millot (22). Both youngsters bagged an assist last time they clashed - in the 2-2 draw in Leverkusen in April - impressing once again towards the end of breakout seasons that saw Wirtz finish with 11 goals and 12 assists and Millot with five goals and eight assists.
Watch: Young stars on show as Leverkusen lock horns with Stuttgart in April 2024
Wirtz remains a key man for Alonso and he has started every match of the 2024/25 campaign, looking to his attacking mindset, deft ball control and impressive passing range - not to mention seemingly endless cardio - to rack up four goals and one assist. He burst out of the blocks with a two-goal turn in the opening-day 3-2 win in Gladbach, but Millot has also stepped it up, bringing his dribbling, pace and preternatural passing game to bear with three goals and two assists - already an improvement on his numbers at the same stage last season (two goals, one assist). The Frenchman was sensational in the 5-1 win over Dortmund, scoring one and setting up two more in a benchmark performance that he and the rest of Hoeneß' men will be looking to emulate on Friday.
Watch: Stuttgart run riot against Dortmund
Form
The sides have already clashed once this season, in the Supercup, and the extremely close encounter - which followed on from the pair of league draws last season - made it clear that there is plenty left in the rivalry between these Bundesliga heavyweights. It was dramatic stuff, with Bayer winning 4-3 on penalties after taking the lead through Boniface, losing it as Millot and Undav struck back, and then levelling in the 88th minute through Patrik Schick to force the shootout.
Watch: Supercup highlights!
More generally, however, the numbers tend quite clearly in favour of Die Werkself, who have 45 victories for 23 defeats and 23 draws in 91 encounters between the clubs in all competitions. What's more, this dominance in the fixture has been built over the 14 years since the beginning of the 2010/11 season, a period that has seen Stuttgart win just once - all the way back at the end of the 2017/18 season.
That means that it has been 15 matches and almost seven years between drinks for the Swabians, but Hoeneß's men can draw encouragement from the fact that that 1-0 win, courtesy of Christian Gentner, did come at the BayArena, the venue for Friday's crunch clash...
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