On Wednesday night, German Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen go head-to-head in the first leg of the Champions League’s Round of 16 at the Allianz Arena.
Date: 05/03/2025
Location: Allianz Arena
Time: 8pm
As previously mentioned, this will be the fourth time that these two sides have met already this campaign, with the last head-to-head clash resulting in a 0-0 stalemate at the BayArena on 15th February, as Xabi Alonso’s side took 15 shots to Bayern’s two, a result that put a dent in Leverkusen’s attempts to retain the Bundesliga for a second season running.
At present, Bayern Munich sit eight points clear of Leverkusen in the Bundesliga with 61 points from 24 matches, hence why Kompany’s side were delighted to take a draw in Leverkusen.
The Champions League is the only other piece of silverware that Bayern Munich can win this campaign, having been knocked out of the DFB Pokal by Leverkusen in the Round of 16 as a 17th-minute Manuel Neuer red card was compounded by a 69th-minute strike from ex-Burnley loanee Nathan Tella.
Vincent Kompany’s men have been far from convincing in Europe though, as they finished 12th in the Champions League Group Stage with 15 points from eight matches, winning against the likes of Dinamo Zagreb (9-2), Benfica (1-0), PSG (1-0), Shakhtar Donetsk (5-1) and Slovan Bratislava (3-1) while losing to Aston Villa (1-0), Barcelona (4-1) and Feyenoord (3-0).
In the Champions League’s Round of 16, Bayern faced Celtic in what was expected to be a very one-sided tie, however, a last-kick equaliser from Canadian full-back Alphonso Davies spared the Bavarian’s blushes in the second-leg as they scraped through 3-2 on aggregate.
Leverkusen can be proud of their season thus far, as despite sitting second in the Bundesliga, they are 11 points clear of third-place Eintracht Frankfurt and have lost just one league match all campaign, on top of last season’s unbeaten league season.
Alonso’s side are set to face off against Arminia Bielefeld in the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal, having progressed past the likes of Carl Zeiss Jena (1-0), Elversberg (3-0), Bayern Munich (1–0) and FC Koln (3-2) in previous rounds. They also managed to win the DFL Supercup at the start of the season 4-3 on penalties against Stuttgart following a 2-2 draw.
The visitor’s Champions League campaign has been strong, as they qualified for the Round of 16 via a sixth-place finish in the Group Stage, earning 16 points from eight matches. Leverkusen managed to beat Feyenoord (4-0), AC Milan (1-0), Red Bull Salzburg (5-0), Inter Milan (1-0) and Sparta Praha (2-0) while drawing with Brest (1-1) and losing to Liverpool (4-0) and Atlético Madrid (2-1).
Champions League 
