Three points. That is the margin between Bayer Leverkusen and a Champions League place with three games left to play. It is not a lot of room for error, but it is also not a closed door. The math is tight, the schedule is brutal, and the backstory is genuinely strange — even by Bundesliga standards.
A Season That Started on Fire — and Then Caught Fire Differently
This was supposed to be a transition year. Xabi Alonso departed for Real Madrid in the summer. Florian Wirtz followed, sold to Liverpool for over £100 million. Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah, Jeremie Frimpong — gone. For a club that had just delivered an unbeaten Bundesliga title two seasons prior, that is not a rebuild. That is demolition. The club spent around €170 million on 17 new arrivals to paper over the gaps, then hired Erik ten Hag as manager. Ten Hag lasted three games before being sacked in September 2025 — a new record for the fastest managerial exit in Bundesliga history. For fans who like to track football as a form of organized chaos, Bizbet serves as a useful companion to seasons like this one, where outcomes feel genuinely unpredictable right up to the final day.
Kasper Hjulmand, former Denmark national team coach, came in as the replacement. He had led Denmark to the Euro 2020 semi-finals and understood exactly what it meant to build a team under pressure. He inherited a dressing room that had just watched two coaches come and go before October.
The Numbers Don’t Lie — But They Do Tease
Leverkusen sit sixth in the Bundesliga table with 44 points. Hoffenheim hold third with 49. Stuttgart and RB Leipzig are tied on 47 in fourth and fifth. Leverkusen need to close a three-point gap in three matches and rely on results elsewhere going their way. It is perfectly doable. It is also the kind of situation where supporters traditionally buy antacids in bulk.
The recent form gives genuine grounds for optimism. Consider what they have managed in April alone:
- A 1-0 win away at Borussia Dortmund on April 11 — away form that most clubs in transition cannot dream of
- A painful 2-1 home defeat to Augsburg on April 18, which kept them outside the top four
- A composed 2-1 win at Cologne on April 25, the kind of victory that keeps a race alive
Two wins and a loss. The loss was the costly one, but the pattern suggests a team that knows how to win when it focuses. To follow this closely and register before the run-in ends, you can check out BizBet Registration ahead of the decisive fixtures.
The Schedule That Will Decide Everything
Three games left. Two of them are against direct rivals. There is no gentle run-in here.
- May 2 vs RB Leipzig — a direct six-pointer at home, with Leipzig level on 47 points
- May 9 away at Stuttgart — another team ahead of them in the table, another must-win
- May 16 — the final day, when everything either resolves itself or doesn’t
Winning all three would give Leverkusen 53 points. Whether that is enough depends entirely on what Hoffenheim and Stuttgart do with their own remaining fixtures. A points total in the low-to-mid 50s has historically secured fourth place in the Bundesliga. Nothing is guaranteed, but this is not a long shot either.
One signal that the club itself believes the season still has something to offer: defender Edmond Tapsoba signed a contract extension on April 29. Players do not extend contracts at clubs they expect to spend next season in the Europa League.
What Hjulmand Has Actually Built
After the chaos of September, Hjulmand steadied the ship faster than anyone expected. His early run of 16 points from six games gave Leverkusen genuine momentum. The Danish coach kept the 3-4-3 system that Alonso had made famous, leaned on Aleix García as his midfield organizer, and gave younger arrivals like Christian Kofane and Ernest Poku actual minutes rather than bench appearances. The squad looks and feels different from the one that stumbled through August. It also looks entirely capable of beating Leipzig and Stuttgart when it needs to.
The question is whether “capable” and “does it when it matters” are the same thing for this particular group:
- Patrik Schick leads the attacking line with 19 Bundesliga goals this season — remarkable output for a squad in transition
- Alejandro Grimaldo provides the left wing-back creativity that has become a Leverkusen trademark
- Aleix García runs the midfield with the efficiency of someone who has been at the club for years, despite arriving only this summer
One more win against a direct rival, and Leverkusen control their own destiny. Two wins, and Champions League football is theirs regardless of what anyone else does. The season that began with mass departures, a sacking after three games, and serious questions about the club’s identity might yet end in European football’s top table. Stranger things have happened. Just not many.
