Bayer Leverkusen vs. Augsburg preview: Champions targeting history
Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen have already made history the season, having avoided defeat in all 50 of their competitive matches. In their most recent outing, die Werkself cruised to a 5-0 victory over Bochum thanks to goals from Patrik Schick, Victor Boniface, Amine Adli, Josip Stanišić and Álex Grimaldo.
As a result of their unbeaten streak, Xabi Alonso’s side are also just two games away from completing a remarkable treble. Having already wrapped up the Bundesliga title, Leverkusen will have the chance to claim their first European trophy in 36 years when they face Atalanta in Wednesday’s Europa League final. Die Werkself will then turn their attention to the DFB-Pokal final against second-tier Kaiserslautern.
Before they can focus on those two fixtures, Leverkusen will round off their Bundesliga campaign with a home game against Augsburg. They clinched a narrow victory in January’s head-to-head meeting thanks to a late Exequiel Palacios effort.
The hosts will be confident about claiming all three points, having won five of their last six home league games. They have proven to be a tough team to break down at the BayArena, conceding more than once in just two of their home matches in the Bundesliga – a 3-2 win over Leipzig in August and a 2-2 draw against Stuttgart in their most recent home game.
Team News
Florian Wirtz will return to the squad after missing the win over Bochum with a muscle injury.
Augsburg
Augsburg have seen their European hopes dented by four consecutive defeats. The Fuggerstädter lost to Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund, before they fell to a narrow loss in their recent meeting with Stuttgart. Serhou Guirassy’s 48th-minute strike proved enough to condemn Augsburg to defeat in their final home game of the season.
After collecting 39 points from 33 matches, Augsburg are sitting in 10th spot and level on points with 11th-placed Werder Bremen and ninth-placed Heidenheim. They are also three points adrift of Freiburg in eighth position, which could become a European spot if Dortmund win the Champions League and/or if Leverkusen wins the Pokal. To have any chance of finishing in eighth place, Augsburg needs to beat Leverkusen and hope Freiburg lose to Union Berlin. Even then, wins for Heidenheim and Bremen would see goal difference come into play.
Although they are the underdogs, Augsburg may take confidence from the fact they recorded a 2-1 victory in last season’s away meeting with Leverkusen.
Team News
Augsburg are without the services of Kevin Mbabu, Raphael Framberger, Reece Oxford, Robert Gumny, Finn Dahmen and Fredrik Jensen.