Super Stuttgart sweep Leverkusen aside with in-demand Leweling to the fore | Andy Brassell

If ever there was a weekend to show up on your best form, then this was it. Stuttgart travelled to Bayer Leverkusen for Saturday night’s Topspiel not just facing a team with whom they have had a healthy sporting rivalry with over recent years, but with an audience to perform to. Starting with an XI containing seven current national team players they were – of course – under the gaze of Rudi Völler, who served Leverkusen as player and sporting director over two spells amounting to almost 25 years and, though now the sporting director of the DFB, still lives locally and is a frequent visitor to the BayArena.

So if he enjoyed this early-year shockwave to the Bundesliga’s established order, it would have been in a professional rather than a personal capacity. Games between these two have tended to be among the highlights of recent Bundesliga seasons; intriguing, edge-of-the-seat, push-pull affairs between a team that took the express elevator to the very top under Xabi Alonso and one which never blinked for a second when faced by them, emboldened by an inspiring coach of their own in Sebastian Hoeness. “Even in their top year two years ago when Leverkusen dominated everyone,” noted Völler as a Sunday guest on Sport1’s celebrated Doppelpass, “Stuttgart were the only team that played on equal terms in both games.”

“That,” as Kicker underlined, “was certainly not the case on Saturday.” The visitors made mincemeat of their hosts. Propelled by two goals from the in-form – and in-demand – Jamie Leweling, Stuttgart held a barely believable 4-0 lead at the interval. Kasper Hjulmand, a beacon of calm leadership since his September arrival, appeared lost for words. “I don’t have a decent explanation for what happened,” he said, flummoxed by a one-sided first half.

Kasper Hjulmand during the game against Stuttgart. Photograph: Ralf Ibing/firo sportphoto/Getty Images

Granted, Leverkusen had absentees between players at the Africa Cup of Nations and Patrik Schick’s late injury pullout, but excuses are not in their nature, ever since the days of Alonso. They have embodied the modern-day cliché of next man up, but by means of deed rather than word. Yet this was a Stuttgart that by any measure would have been difficult to stop for pretty much any opponent. “The first 20 or 25 minutes were exceptional,” enthused Völler. “I’ve rarely seen a team play like that in Leverkusen in recent years.”

Despite having been competitive against very good Leverkusen sides for a while, Stuttgart must have felt they were due. Despite the duels of some of those recent matches it was not always shown in results, having not beaten them since 2018 and Hoeness personally having never beaten Leverkusen in 11 previous attempts, including games with his previous club Hoffenheim. Now this most emphatic of wins has taken them level on points with the 2024 champions, and it has vastly shrunk the gulf in goal difference (which went from 10 in Leverkusen’s favour to just four over the course of this game).

It was, though, as so often under Hoeness, the style and the swagger that impressed. Deniz Undav’s return to his best has seen that rewarded. His goal – the fourth, the salt in the Leverkusen wound that followed seconds after Leweling’s second – was his 10th in his last 11 matches, with his pair of assists taking his total in that same period to five. Yet if plenty of other prospective candidates for summer in Wake Forest with Die Mannschaft might have caught Völler’s eye, including Angelo Stiller, Chris Führich and even goalkeeper Alexander Nübel snuffing out any suspicion of a comeback, it was Leweling who shone brightest.

Jamie Leweling runs at Jarell Quansah. Photograph: Lukas Schulze/Bundesliga/Bundesliga Collection/Getty Images

The 24-year-old’s dynamism, versatility and ability to pop up from any number of deep-lying and wide positions in the same game to threaten opponents really showed up here. Undav is excellent but not the only attacking threat of a World Cup hopeful at Hoeness’ disposal. Leweling’s goals were an accurate bite-sized summation of his talent, drifting late into the box to finish Undav’s cute pass for the first, then stepping inside to lash home a shot from outside the area and all but kill the game when the home side were regrouping before half-time.

His development has not gone unnoticed, with Bournemouth already bidding €40m for Leweling this window as they seek a de facto Antoine Semenyo successor. Stuttgart rejected that out of hand. They sense that if they keep Leweling until the summer and watch him fly with Germany, an even bigger bounty might await them. Given the exemplary playing of his Nick Woltemade hand at the beginning of the season, who would doubt their sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth?

Leweling shares his board’s view of subscribing to a patient approach. It took him a while to get here, through the academy at Greuther Fürth and a year at Union Berlin. “It’s nice to receive offers,” he reflected, “but I feel comfortable here. We have ambitions as a team, and I do too.” Völler conceded that not all of the Stuttgart seven are likely to come with the squad that travels to North Carolina in June, but the identities of those that have the best chance is coming into focus. With Hoeness expertly steering the ship, those flying the VfB Stuttgart standard from the mast feel they are headed somewhere special again.

Talking points

On Tuesday Leverkusen will travel in the midweek fixtures to Hamburg, who are recovering from an unfortunate loss at Freiburg – they led through Luka Vuskovic and, despite going down to 10 men, only folded under a late, and controversial, Igor Matanovic goal. But the focus is on news that now-former sporting director Stefan Kuntz, who resigned at the turn of the year for “personal reasons”, has been accused of sexual harassment by a female employee, according to Bild. While Kuntz moved to “categorically reject” the allegations in a Sunday night Instagram post, the club confirmed on Monday that Kuntz had been dismissed after having “explicitly declined” the opportunity to make his case to the board. HSV’s statement went on to underline they had left out some details initially “to protect” the victim.

For Bayern, what better way to start the new year than by welcoming their favourite bunnies Wolfsburg, who haven’t beaten them in the Bundesliga for almost 11 years and thrice ever in 63 meetings before this weekend (give or take Die Wolfe winning the 2015 Super Cup on penalties)? The first half was tight but a 2-1 lead turned into an 8-1 victory with six scored in 26 second-half minutes; Harry Kane got the sixth but Luis Díaz (one goal and two assists) was especially transcendent.

Luis Díaz after scoring in the thrashing of Wolfsburg. Photograph: Adam Pretty/Getty Images

On Friday, neither Eintracht Frankfurt nor Dortmund quite got what they wanted from the Bundesliga restart, a frantic 3-3 draw that the away side really should have won but almost lost having gone behind for the first time in stoppage time, only for Carney Chukwuemeka equaliser to save them. Of greater concern going into Tuesday’s visit of Werder Bremen is Serhou Guirassy’s dry spell, with BVB’s No 9 (who also gave away a penalty) now goalless in the Bundesliga since October. Fábio Silva may now replace him, with Niko Kovac pledging support to the Guinea striker but emphasising “competition is important”.