Everything Milan should know about Bayer Leverkusen | OneFootball

As Milan prepare to face Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena in the Champions League on Tuesday night, former Tagesspiegel writer Peter Young previews everything you need to know about the opposition’s form, key players and their record in Europe.

Dangerous players: Wirtz, Boniface and the wing-backs

Germany international Florian Wirtz is the crown jewel in Leverkusen’s set-up. The 21-year-old marked his first Champions League outing with a brace during the 4-0 thrashing away at Feyenoord two weeks ago and will be looking to add to his tally against the Rossoneri on home soil on Tuesday night.

Wirtz is also joint-third in the Bundesliga top scorer charts, with four goals and an assist from his first five league outings.

Centre-forward Victor Boniface has sits just behind Wirtz in the Bundesliga goalscoring charts with three goals and an assist from five matches. He averaged just shy of a goal involvement every game during last season’s unbeaten Bundesliga campaign, with 14 goals and eight assists from 23 appearances.

Like many teams in Serie A, Leverkusen and Xabi Alonso tend to operate in a 3-4-2-1 shape, which allows for both wing-backs to bomb forward and get involved in the attacking moves.

Alejandro Grimaldo was also on the scoresheet against Feyenoord two weeks ago, while right-wing-back Jeremie Frimpong has established himself as one of the quickest players in Europe’s top divisions.

Keep an eye on former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, who is very much the orchestrator of Leverkusen’s midfield, and will likely dictate play from his preferred position in the middle of the park.

Leverkusen results so far in 2024-25

Leverkusen are technically third in the Champions League standings after their 4-0 win over Feyenoord two weeks ago. Only Bayern Munich, who got a 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb, and Celtic, who won 5-1 against Slovan Bratislava, sit above Die Werkself.

Leverkusen have started the Bundesliga campaign marginally slower than they did this time last year, but still sit in the top four and have a respectable tally of 10 points from five games, made up of three victories, one draw and one loss.

For reference, a tally of 10 points after five matches would have been enough for second place in Serie A this season. Napoli had that exact number of points five games in, as did Udinese, but it would not have been enough for the lead of the Serie A table.

RB Leipzig, due to play Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday, are the only team to beat Leverkusen so far this campaign. Alonso’s side also picked up an encouraging 1-1 draw away against giants Bayern Munich over the weekend.

Leverkusen history against Serie A sides

Tuesday night’s game will be the first time that Milan and Leverkusen have met in European competition.

Leverkusen have faced Serie A sides on 12 occasions in the Champions League, with a record of two wins, four draws and six losses from historic meetings with Lazio, Roma and Juventus, but they have not faced an Italian team since Juve in the 2019-20 Champions League group stages.

Their last meeting against Italian opposition, of course, came in the form of a 3-0 loss against Atalanta in last season’s Europa League final.

Milan history against Bundesliga sides

Milan have a record of 17 wins, 12 draws and 10 losses when they have previously gone up against Bundesliga sides in all UEFA competitions.

Milan have only ever lost three of their 16 Champions League matches against German sides, and also have seven wins and six draws to add to that record.

However, the Rossoneri  only picked up one point from their last two matches against a Bundesliga team, picking up a 0-0 draw and a 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund before being knocked out at the end of the group stage in last season’s Champions League.