In Leverkusen, where a summer of departures left Bayer searching for a new direction, Carles Martínez has begun to steady the project. The Catalan coach, shaped in Barcelona’s academy system before a career that carried him through Qatar, Kuwait and France, has recovered from an awkward Bundesliga opening to put together a five-match winning run across league and Europe.
Key takeaways
- Martínez’s Bayer Leverkusen lost their Bundesliga opener to promoted Elversberg before finding momentum.
- After drawing 2-2 with Augsburg in the third league round, Leverkusen won their next three Bundesliga matches.
- Two Europa League victories have extended the team’s winning sequence to five games in all competitions.
- Summer exits included Piero Hincapié, Exequiel Palacios and Alejandro Grimaldo.
- Left-back Miguel Gutiérrez has become central to Martínez’s flexible attacking structure.
- Ibrahim Maza created Patrik Schick’s goal against Freiburg after beating his marker near the right corner flag.
From La Masia to the Rhineland
The coach from Les Franqueses del Vallès spent three years working in Barcelona’s youth set-up, with Marc Casadó, Gavi and Ansu Fati among the players to pass through his hands. He left the club in 2018, believing his cycle there had reached its end, and took his ideas beyond Spain.
A year and a half in Qatar was followed by two seasons in charge of Kuwait’s youth national team. Martínez returned to European football in December 2022 as part of Toulouse’s staff, then took over as the French club’s head coach in July 2023.
His Toulouse side played in the Europa League and finished 11th in the league. After three seasons in France, he chose to leave this summer and accepted the task in Leverkusen, inheriting a squad reshaped after a campaign marked by inconsistency.
The first result did little to quiet concerns. Defeat against Elversberg, newly promoted to the Bundesliga, brought early scrutiny. A victory in the following round began the response, and the Augsburg draw preceded a more convincing rise in results.
A shape built for the players available
Although Martínez’s coaching education came at La Masia, his Leverkusen do not simply reproduce Barcelona’s traditional 4-3-3. His approach has adjusted to the personnel and the demands of the match.
When Bayer attack, Miguel Gutiérrez moves inside from the left to operate as an additional midfielder. With Medina shifting towards the left of the defensive line, the team can form a 3-4-3 rather than remain in a fixed back-four shape.
Maza has become one of the most eye-catching figures in that arrangement. Nominally an attacking midfielder, the Algerian is allowed to drift into wide areas. Against Freiburg, he moved to the right byline, slipped the ball through an opponent’s legs close to the corner, and then supplied Schick for the second goal.
It remains early to judge the ceiling of Martínez’s Leverkusen, but the response to their opening setback has given the new regime a stronger footing. If the current level can be maintained, Bayer have the platform to turn a rebuilding season into one that carries a serious challenge for silverware.
