Eternal bridesmaid

Bayer Leverkusen football club has been around since 1904, but in the 105 years of its existence, the team has only managed to win two titles: the 1988 UEFA Cup and the 1993 German Cup.

And since that last win, the list of occasions on which Leverkusen has come up short is so long that it's almost spooky. In the past twelve years, they've been second in the Bundesliga four times and lost the German Cup final twice.

In 2002, they entered the hall of fame of frustration. Late in the spring, Leverkusen were poised to pull off a triple but managed to lose the Champions League final, the Bundesliga title and the German Cup within the space of eleven heartbreaking days.

This season, management handed the reins to veteran coach Jupp Heynckes, who with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid won all the titles that Leverkusen has so spectacularly failed to win in recent years.

The appointment has paid dividends thus far. Leverkusen top the table after matchday thirteen. But Leverkusen being Leverkusen, no one's engraving the team's name on any silverware just yet. Indeed, some bookmakers still have them as 8 to 1 outsiders – despite their position in the standings.

Back to the basics

Leverkusen's most recent 1-1draw against Bayern Munich illustrated what there is to like about the current incarnation of the team.

The team has improved dramatically at the back with the addition in the off-season of former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia. The 36-year-old Finn has shown that he has more than enough footballing life in him to cope with the demands of the Bundesliga.

Hyypia's presence has steadied Leverkusen's other regular central defender, Manuel Friedrich, and Heynckes's insistence on football fundamentals is apparent as well.

For example, with one exception, Leverkusen's offside trap worked flawlessly against Bayern, leaving Munich striker Mario Gomez the very picture of frustration after seeing one linesman's flag after another.

Another major improvement has been the play of center forward Stefan Kiessling, who's currently the league's leading scorer with 9 goals in 13 matches.

The way he controlled the ball and turned Munich defender Daniel van Buyten in scoring Leverkusen's equalizer suggests that the striker, who in past seasons had sometimes appeared a bit clumsy, has learned a trick or two from Heynckes – who himself ranks as the Bundesliga's third most prolific striker of all time.

For years, Leverkusen has been regarded as an up-and-coming squad bursting with talent. The addition of some experience may well have been all that was needed to put the final polish on a team that's yet to lose a match this season.

Mind Games

Yet the Bayern match was not all positives. While a draw in Munich is a perfectly acceptable result, the team missed the chance to make the sort of statement – to itself and the rest of the league – that carried Wolfsburg to the Bundesliga title last season.

Last April, the Wolves thrashed Bayern 5-1 in what came to be seen as the pivotal moment in their championship campaign. But despite being the better team in the first half in Munich, Leverkusen never pressed for the three points and only came away with a draw thanks to some brilliant stops by keeper Rene Adler and some blown opportunities by their opponents.

"Actually we came to Munich to win, but in retrospect we have to be happy with a point," Heynckes said after the match. "Still, I'm unhappy that we didn't take out chances in the first half. We failed to seal the deal."

And any inability to seal the deal has to be of concern to everyone connected with the club, given Leverkusen's history. The team has blown two leads already this season, against Mainz and Schalke. Wins rather than draws in those games would have put Leverkusen ahead of second-placed Bremen by five points instead of a mere one.

Moreover, Leverkusen also topped the table at this stage last season, only to fall apart and finish way back in ninth place. The coming months are the ones that will show whether Heynckes is able to instil the sort of mental fortitude needed to go the distance to a title.

Pressure and prospects

In other words, Leverkusen need to learn to go for it.

Neither Heynckes nor Hyypia are getting any younger so despite the relative youth of Leverkusen's current squad, their best chance of some silverware may indeed be this season.

Adler is regarded as one of Europe's top young keepers and has already attracted the attention of more prestigious clubs, including Bayern Munich. Leverkusen have him under contract until 2012, but with his estimated transfer value being around 14 million euros ($21 million), the club will be under pressure to sell him at the latest by the end of next season.

In the short term, however, Leverkusen's prospects are bright. The team have gone on their current undefeated run despite their most consistent striker, Patrick Helmes, being injured. He's scheduled to return to action after the winter break, which should bring an automatic boost.

And thanks to their sponsor, pharmaceutical giant Bayer, the club is in a position to add more depth with transfers over the winter break.

A strong signal by management that they want to win right now might provide an additional impetus for the players to break with a decade-and-a-half of disappointment and reward the league's longest suffering fans this side of Schalke with a much coveted title.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Michael Lawton