Borussia Dortmund will host Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday at 15.30 Uhr on Sky in a meeting that has shifted from a title race to a fight for the challenger’s place behind Bayern Munich. Dortmund are 15 points ahead of Leverkusen, while the visitors sit four points behind fourth place and still need results to steady a season they have called a transition year.
Kasper Hjulmand set the tone on Thursday, his 54th birthday, by saying Leverkusen must close the gap again next season. He also said the team is going to Dortmund with the clear aim of winning, calling it a possible big push. That is the tone he has tried to impose since replacing Erik ten Hag in September after only two matchdays, a move that underscored how quickly Leverkusen lost patience with the start to the campaign.
The club’s rebuild has been unusually deep. Leverkusen filled 14 squad positions last summer, and Fernando Carro said the target was to build “die nächste Meistermannschaft.” Simon Rolfes was even more direct about the limits of that approach, saying the club cannot simply buy another championship team like the one that won in 2024 and must instead develop the next Florian Wirtz-type player.
That backdrop helps explain why Saturday matters even if it does not decide the season. Leverkusen are still expected to qualify for the Champions League, but the margin is thin and the run-in is not kind. After Dortmund, they still have league matches against Leipzig and Stuttgart, two fixtures that could shape whether the season ends as a recovery or another reset.
There is also a tension inside the club’s message. Leverkusen insist the work is about the future, yet they are still being judged in the present, and the present includes uncertainty over more than one key name. Edmond Tapsoba is said to be considering a move to the Premier League, Jarell Quansah could be affected if Liverpool exercises a buy-back option, and Leverkusen want to keep Alejandro Grimaldo despite transfer speculation.
Recent form gives Hjulmand some cover. Last weekend, Leverkusen came back from a temporary 1:3 deficit against Wolfsburg to win 6:3, a result that showed both their flaws and their firepower. But Saturday in Dortmund is a different test, and for a club that had been ahead of Dortmund for two years before this season’s slide, it is a chance to prove the gap has not become permanent.
