WHEN Bayern Munich splashed the cash last summer – all 145 million euros (S$211.4 million) of it – to sign the best defender in Italy and England’s all-time record goal scorer, it seemed all but certain that the club would saunter their way towards yet another Bundesliga title.

Kim Min-jae and Harry Kane were supposed to be the dynamic duo to lead the dominant Bavarians to a 12th straight league championship.

What Bayern and their legion of fans didn’t quite count on, however, was the unheralded Bayer Leverkusen ripping up that script to shreds – and rewriting the history books in the process.

It’s already March and Leverkusen, incredibly, currently stand as the only undefeated team among Europe’s top five leagues. Their 2-1 win over Mainz last weekend not only cemented their place at the top of the table – seven points clear of Bayern, who drew 2-2 with Freiburg on Saturday (Mar 2), with 11 games to go – but it also set a new German record of 33 consecutive matches without losing.

To rub salt into the wound, this feat surpassed Hansi Flick’s Bayern team, who achieved a 32-game unbeaten run across two seasons.

The Alonso effect

Watch how Leverkusen play these days – outfoxing one opponent after another and scoring some beautiful goals along the way – and it is quite remarkable that this is a club that has never won the Bundesliga before.

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Three weeks ago, Leverkusen demolished Bayern 3-0 at home – a statement result that gave coach Xabi Alonso’s men the immense belief that this year, finally, could be the one when they finish the season as champions.

Since they were formed 120 years ago in 1904, Leverkusen’s only major honours have been the 1987/88 Uefa Cup and the 1992/93 German Cup.

They have been runners-up in the Bundesliga five times, thrice in the German Cup and once in the Champions League. Such has been their failure at the final hurdle that they’ve been saddled with nicknames like “Neverkusen” and “Eternal Bridesmaids”.

This season, not only are they in with a shout of winning the league, Leverkusen could even win a continental treble.  The club are in the German Cup semi-finals (they play Fortuna Dusseldorf on Apr 4) and the last-16 of the Europa League (they play Azerbaijan’s Qarabag on Mar 8, a team they beat twice in the group stages).

Lots of credit must go to Alonso for piecing together a well-oiled machine that have dug deep several times in recent weeks to grind out the wins. The Spaniard’s squad includes established players like Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka, German international Jonas Hofmann and last year’s Europa League joint-top scorer Victor Boniface.

It’s little wonder, then, that many of Europe’s top teams are courting Alonso’s services, and the signs point to the 42-year-old Spaniard heading to Anfield in the summer to replace Liverpool’s departing coach Jurgen Klopp.

For now, though, Alonso has to block out the distractions of any potential big-money move and focus on the task at hand. 

Up next for Leverkusen is a trip to relegation-threatened Cologne in the Rhine derby on Sunday (10.30 pm kickoff, Singapore time). It’s hard to imagine anything but maximum points for the leaders as they look to extend their unbeaten streak to 34.

Now or nothing for Bayern

Meanwhile, the serial champions from Munich know that their season is in deep danger of falling apart.

Thomas Tuchel has already paid the price for the club’s less-than-stellar campaign, and he will depart at the end of the season.

On Saturday, Bayern conceded a late equaliser to mid-table Freiburg, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw. The result was another blow and loosened their grip on their precious trophy by another finger or two.

Bayern were knocked out of the German Cup in November by a third-division opponent, while their continued Champions League participation depends on them overturning a 1-0 deficit when they play Italian side Lazio in the Round of 16 on Mar 6.

The good news is Bayern snapped a three-match losing run last weekend with a late victory over Leipzig, and realistically they have to win every single one of their remaining fixtures to give themselves any chance of retaining the league title.

Kane, who joined from England’s Tottenham Hotspur, has kept his side of the bargain by scoring 27 league goals, and Bayern will need many more from the Englishman if they are to salvage what has been a disastrous season by their lofty standards.