Top five contenders for the Champions League spots in the Bundesliga

#5 Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen could come back strong this season

After a poor campaign last season, finishing 12th, Bayer Leverkusen are another ‘big’ team that won’t be playing European football this campaign. What looked so promising under Roger Schmidt collapsed given that he had no plan B, but with Heiko Herrlich now at helm, they could perhaps go back into the top echelons of European football.

Perhaps a poorer transfer period than they had hoped, Bayer Leverkusen made some interesting moves on deadline day. Newly-capped Greece international, Panagiotis Retsos, arrived from Olympiakos and the arrival of Argentine forward Lucas Alario could turn out to be signing of the season.

The 24-year-old has the capability to score the goals needed to fire Leverkusen back into the Champions League, and although competition is there from Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen, Leverkusen should have enough to see their Bundesliga rivals off.