Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen of 2023-24 are on the brink of greatness, with just 11 theoretical matches between them and a record unbeaten season for a top-five European league team.
Of the 42 matches they have played so far this campaign, they have won 37, drawn five and lost a total of zero.
Bayer can win the Bundesliga for the first time in their history this weekend when they face Werder Bremen, whilst also winning the Europa League quarter-final first leg against West Ham 2-0 and facing Kaiserslautern, from the second division, in the German Cup final. may 25th.
If their record remains unblemished in their remaining games across the three competitions, they will become the first team to go an entire season unbeaten, both domestically and in European competition.
It’s a scenario that few, if any, would have predicted at the start of the season, with German giants Bayern Munich having won their last 11 league titles and no Bundesliga team having completed a domestic league season without losing at least one. turn.
In the history of sport around the world, many teams have gone an entire league season without losing, such as Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal “Invincibles” of 2003-04, but doing so in multiple competitions is rare territory.
AFP Sport highlights three teams that completed a full season without suffering defeat in various competitions:
– Al-Ahly –
Egyptian giants Al Ahly won the league and CAF Champions League without defeat in 2004-05, but were prevented from completing the treble only by a penalty shootout exit in the Egyptian Cup after the round of 16 draw ended in a draw.
That season in the league they finished an impressive 31 points clear of second-placed Enppi SC and failed to win just two of their 26 matches.
The dominant double was made even sweeter with the CAF Champions League semi-final victory against Cairo rivals Zamalek by an aggregate score of four goals to one.
-Preston Far North-
You have to go back to the 19th century to find such an example in English football, in fact, until the advent of the English League in 1888.
Preston North End achieved a league and cup double in the 1888–89 season, which left them unbeaten in 22 league matches and winning the FA Cup final 3–0 against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Kennington Oval in London.
– Johor Darul Ta’zim –
Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim completed an undefeated domestic quadruple in the 2023 season in Malaysia.
With the national league and cup running from February to December 2023, Johor Darul Ta’zim won an impressive 37 of 38 games on its way to clinching the country’s Super Cup, Piala Malaysia Cup, FA Cup and league title.
Unfortunately, their domestic dominance did not translate into the biggest challenges of the Asian Champions League, where they won three group stage games but lost three.
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