We kickstart the knockout phase of the Champions League with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen, who have been enjoying some of the best days of their 132-year history in recent times.
Ahead of our first competitive meeting with the German side for nearly a quarter of a century, get prepared for their visit by swotting up on their past and present stars, and how they’ve been faring this term:
The history
The club were founded in 1904 by employees of the pharmaceutical company Bayer which is based in the city. Over the next 30 years they gradually worked their way up from the fourth tier to the second, and in the 1950s they spent five years at the highest level. They first competed in the new national Bundesliga in 1979/80, where they have remained ever since.
In 1988, they secured the first major trophy by lifting the UEFA Cup after an incredible second-leg comeback against Espanyol, and the German Cup followed in 1993. They were labelled “Neverkusen” around the turn of the millennium as they finished runners-up four times, lost the league title on the final day in 2000, and then ended the 2001/02 campaign empty-handed when on course for a Treble that included a Champions League final loss to Real Madrid.
However, after a 20-year period of little success except for regular Champions League qualification, Xavi Alonso’s arrival as manager in 2022 was transformative. He guided them to a first league title two years later as they completed an undefeated league season, and broke a European record by going 51 matches unbeaten in all competitions during a single campaign. That ended when they lost to Atalanta in the Europa League final, however they bounced back by claiming the German Cup to complete a domestic double.
The stadium
Their home is the BayArena, and has been since 1958. Originally named the Ulrich Haberland Stadium after a former club president, it had a capacity of 20,000 before being redeveloped in the 1990s and became the nation’s first all-seater stadium.
That was also when it took its current name, and further improvements in the late 2000s increased its capacity to its current total of 30,210. It hosted matches in the 2011 Women’s World Cup and has been selected to be the home of German national team fixtures from time to time.
The manager
Former Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand has been in charge of Leverkusen since September. Forced to retire through injury aged 26, the former defender went into coaching and spent time at Lyngby and Nordsjaelland in his homeland. At the latter, he claimed their first-ever Danish title in 2011/12, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league, and guided them into the Champions League group stages.
After a brief stint in Germany with Mainz, Hjulmand returned to Nordsjaelland before being given the national team job ahead of Euro 2020, where he led the Danes to the semi-finals before they were knocked out by England. A disappointing showing at the 2022 World Cup saw them knocked out of the group stages, and after being eliminated in the last 16 of Euro 2024, Hjulmand resigned and was out of the game for over a year until Leverkusen came calling.
Last season
After their Invincibles campaign of 2023/24, Leverkusen started last term by lifting the DFL Supercup, defeating Stuttgart on penalties, but having gone 34 games unbeaten in the previous campaign, they fell at just the second hurdle when RB Leipzig surprised the champions. Despite losing just three times in the Bundesliga, they were always chasing Bayern Munich and 12 draws would see them finish second, 13 points behind Bayern.
Their attempt to retain the German Cup ended at the semi-final stage when third-tier Arminia Bielefeld produced a giant-killing, and while they started the Champions League brightly, finishing sixth in the table to reach the round of 16, Bayern proved to be their nemesis again as they eliminated them 5-0 on aggregate. Alonso announced he would leave the club ahead of their final two games of the season as their form tailed off.
The squad
Leverkusen spent big in the summer to try and replace some huge names, including the three most expensive signings in their history – USA international midfielder Malik Tillman from PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah and Eliesse Ben Seghir from Monaco. However, their main threat remains Czech striker Patrick Schick, who finished as the top scorer at Euro 2024 and has 13 goals to his name this term.
As he did during the title-winning campaign two years ago, Alex Grimaldo (above) has also hit double figures from left-wing back, while fellow Spanish international Aleix Garcia was formerly of Manchester City. Another name familiar with the Premier League is goalkeeper Mark Flekken who arrived from Brentford to be Leverkusen’s number one, while Nathan Tella was part of our academy before making a name for himself at Southampton and Burnley.
Defensive midfielder Robert Andrich is captain and a regular in the German national side, while centre-back Loic Bade was capped by France for the first time last year. Veteran right-back Lucas Vázquez won five Champions League titles with Real Madrid before arriving in Leverkusen in the summer, and central midfielder Exequiel Palacios was a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022.
The SEASON so far
Following Alonso’s departure, Leverkusen’s title-winning side has continued to break up. Florian Wirtz moved to Liverpool for a then-British record £116 deal, while Jeremie Frimpong also headed to Anfield, while Granit Xhaka (Sunderland), Jonathan Tah (Bayern Munich), Amin Adli (Bournemouth), Lukas Hradecky (Monaco) and Victor Boniface (Werder Bremen) also departed, while Piero Hincapie headed on loan to us.
In their place, a dozen new faces arrived, with Erik ten Hag appointed as Alonso’s successor but he lasted just three games at the helm – the fastest sacking in Bundesliga history – before Hjulmand was parachuted in. After a sluggish start, Leverkusen reached the winter break in third place, but have only won four of the 10 games since the restart to leave them in sixth, three points off Champions League qualification.
They finished 16th in the league phase with a mixed bag of results, including losing 7-2 at home to holders Paris Saint-Germain, beating Manchester City 2-0 at the Etihad and drawing 2-2 with Newcastle United with a late equaliser. Having lost to Olympiacos in the league phase, they beat them 2-0 on aggregate to reach this stage. They have also reached the semi-finals of the German Cup again, where Bayern Munich await – the side they’ll also tackle in the league between the two legs of our last 16 tie.
The previous meetings
We have only played Leverkusen twice in competitive action before, which came in the Champions League back in February 2002. We drew 1-1 at the BayArena after a last-minute Ulf Kirsten goal cancelled out Robert Pires’ opener after Ray Parlour was sent off.
A week later, we ran rampant at Highbury by cruising to a 4-1 victory. Pires and Thierry Henry netted in the first seven minutes, before Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp added further goals to the scoreline in the second half to put us on the brink of the quarter-finals. We also met in pre-season back in August 2024, when goals from Oleksandr Zinchenko, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz saw us claim another 4-1 success.
Read more
Chips & wonder goals: Our history vs German giants
Copyright 2026 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
