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Lars and Sven Bender are missing as stabilizers for a young Bayer team
Photo:
Laci Perenyi / imago images
December 19, the last matchday before a short winter break: Bayer Leverkusen could have provided a curious note.
That evening Bayer welcomed FC Bayern, the team that had won all titles and almost every game in 2020, but on that evening a draw would have meant that Munich would only have finished second in the Bundesliga in 2020.
By this evening Bayer had scored 28 points from twelve games, the team was still unbeaten, leaders of the table, and still represented in the Europa League and DFB Cup.
Team of the hour.
Kevin Volland and Kai Havertz, who together had 36 goals with a total of 61 goals this year?
Sold for a lot of money in summer, almost forgotten on the square.
You can lose against Bayern Munich, however - and Bayer lost dramatically in the third minute of stoppage time on December 19 with a goal from Robert Lewandowski.
The decisive factor is what happened next: Ten more Bundesliga games followed, from which Leverkusen only scored nine points, the team most recently lost to Freiburg.
The team has nothing to do with the top of the table.
In addition, there was the cup-out against the amateur club Rot-Weiss Essen and the knockout blow in the Europa League against Young Boys Bern from Switzerland.
Bayer Leverkusen now has two thirds of the season behind them.
The first was at the uppermost limit of the possible, the second at the lowest limit, and now it is decided how this season will end.
The goal is to qualify for the Champions League, but currently five points are missing from fourth place.
What is certain is that Bayer wants to continue with coach Peter Bosz.
The sporting directors Simon Rolfes and most recently Rudi Völler ruled out a separation from him in the “Bild” newspaper: “He's still the same coach with whom we were leaders two months ago.
Everyone was enthusiastic about his style of play and which we wanted just as much because he is a perfect match for Bayer 04, ”said Völler.
But: why is Bayer no longer enthusiastic?
Lars Bender (right) against Brazil's Neymar at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio
Photo: Buda Mendes / Getty Images
Enthusiasm only arises when there is a good mix in the field.
December 19 not only caused a trend reversal at Bayer.
It was also the rough point in time when Leverkusen lost more and more key players.
The injury breaks of Sven Bender (eleven season assignments) and his twin brother Lars (13) are particularly noticeable.
With them on the field, Bayer scored an average of 2.1 points per league game.
They were not used in five of the six defeats in the season so far, as well as in the Cup and Europe-off.
The defensive Bender brothers are so important to Bayer because they give the team stability.
You are the regulatory office in a team that is still very young and strongly focused on pressing and that is supposed to play offensive football.
The Bender brothers also bring leadership skills, which such a young team needs.
They already showed that during their time in the German Olympic selection in 2016.
Coach Horst Hrubesch was allowed to nominate up to three players who are older than 23 for the summer games. He decided on Nils Petersen and the then 27-year-old Bender twins.
»Players who have always got off too badly in the Bundesliga, like the Benders, have done a great job here with the team.
They took the boys with them, helped them, ”said Hrubesch about the role of the brothers in the tournament that the German selection had ended with the silver medal.
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He has to replace goalkeeper Hradecky for the time being: Lennart Grill, 22 years old
Photo: Revierfoto / imago images / Revierfoto
Bayer is currently playing a rehearsal to see how things will go without the Benders.
They will end their careers at the end of the season, they will be only 32 by then, but their bodies have suffered a lot of injuries.
Lars Bender is currently out with a meniscus injury.
His brother Sven has already returned after a capsule injury, but he is only slowly being brought back to the first team.
Her injuries are representative of a number of others: With Julian Baumgartlinger, 33, regular player and substitute captain, another veteran has been out for weeks.
Karim Bellarabi, 30, is currently oscillating between injury and the starting XI.
Coach Bosz also had to reschedule goals after Lukas Hradecky, 31, had problems with the Achilles tendon and will probably be out until the end of March.
Since December, Bayer has not only left a lot of points, but has also lost a lot of experience on the pitch.
Against Freiburg, Bosz sent the youngest starting eleven (with 24.6 years) of his more than two-year term of office to the field.
The good news, however: This young selection was at least superior in terms of play in this game, and in the end it was a little lacking in luck.
The next opponent in the Bundesliga is Borussia Mönchengladbach, and recently had five games without a win in a row.
Actually a good opponent to continue the slightly positive trend.
And maybe Sven Bender will be ready for the starting XI again.
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