Bayer Leverkusen are finally playing to their potential in the Bundesliga

With a 5-1 win over Mainz on Friday night, Bayer Leverkusen are squarely in the conversation for a Champions League spot.

Though Bayer Leverkusen are armed with an enviable array of young, attacking talent, the 2018-19 Bundesliga campaign hadn’t been kind to Bayer prior to these last few weeks. But in their past six Bundesliga games, Leverkusen have secured 15 points, only dropping a 1-0 result to second-place Borussia Monchengladbach.

It all started back on Dec. 23, when Leverkusen made the decision to replace Heiko Herrlich, who was removed from his position despite signs of an uptick in squad performance, with Peter Bosz. While it’s difficult to say whether the team would have continued to improve under Herrlich or not, Bosz’s impact on the club has been evident. Bosz has plenty of unfinished business in the German top flight after a dreadful run with Borussia Dortmund, now the Bundesliga leaders under Manager of the Year shoe-in Lucien Favre, and he’s well on his way to making those struggles in Dortmund a thing of the past with a different Nordrhein-Westfalen club.

Leverkusen’s latest victory under Bosz was a 5-1 drubbing of Mainz, as 22-year-old German sensation Julian Brandt put on a master-class, providing two goals and two assists. Wendell, Kai Havertz and mercurial super-sub Karim Bellarabi all got on the scoring sheet, and this was an ideal way for Leverkusen to bounce back from a DFB Cup defeat to FC Heidenheim mid-week.

That loss to Heidenheim threatened to derail Leverkusen’s moment after a stunning display against Bayern Munich on matchday 20. The individual brilliance of Leon Bailey — a player Bayern have been highly interested in acquiring — helped carry the day, and attackers Kevin Volland and Lucas Alario also bagged goals of their own.

The performance against Bayern was of the highest class, and juxtaposing that result with their previous two games against Die Roten offers a glimpse at just how far Leverkusen have come recently. Last season, Bayern blew out Leverkusen 6-2 in the DFB Cup, and Leverkusen didn’t fair much better in their first fixture against Niko Kovac’s squad this season, losing 3-1. They were thoroughly outplayed and looked frustrated, with Bellarabi’s red card that came within minutes of his substitution on the pitch typifying their frustration.

This season, Bayer’s defense has been a major cause for concern, and it’s undermined the attacking prowess that Bailey, Brandt, Volland, Havertz, Bellarabi and others bring to the table. However, their defense has quietly stepped up recently, allowing no more than one goal in their last six games. That may not seem like much, but five goals allowed in six games is a massive improvement from Bayer’s overall record of 1.8 goals per game allowed before this stretch.

If Bayer’s defense truly has improved with Bosz at the helm, they’re in the conversation for a Champions League spot. Frankfurt and Wolfsburg have a real chance, too, but Leverkusen can say they recently blew out Wolfsburg 3-0; though they also lost to Frankfurt in December before starting this recent run of form.

Knocking Red Bull Leipzig, a well-rounded team tied with Gladbach for the fewest goals allowed this season, out of the fourth-placed position (the final Champions League slot in the Bundesliga) will be a tough order. In fact, Leverkusen lost 3-0 to Leipzig on Nov. 11.

But this looks like a completely different Leverkusen side right now. Their offense is finally clicking; their defense no longer looks like a group fit for the Regionalliga, as some fans joked; and they’ve scooped up quality wins over Wolfsburg, Schalke, Hertha Berlin and Mainz in recent weeks.

Bayer has become a team to watch in Germany, and clubs around the world will certainly be taking notice of Jonathan Tah (22), Wendell (25), Bailey (21), Brandt (22), Volland (26) and Havertz (19). A team where Bellarabi, 28, is one of the “old guys” off the bench was always going to have growing pains to start the season, but it looks like the Europa League Group A winners are striking hot at just the right time.