Leverkusen must realize that defending the title is not easy, currently they are far behind Bayern Munich at the top of the standings with 7 points. Leverkusen this season did not make any player purchases and Xavi Alanso still believes in the old squad. It must also be admitted that Leverkusen this season started the season badly so that they lost points several times, of course this is all because their defense line is not as strong as last season. This is very different from Bayern Munich under Kompany who seems to have a new spirit and even until now Bayern Munich has not been defeated in the Bundesliga.
So I think Leverkusen will not be able to catch up with Bayern Munich's points, because this season Bayern Munich is very difficult to stop. Moreover, Xabi Alanso will leave Leverkusen at the end of the season, of course the management will not bring in new players in the transfer market later. Their target is only to be in second place in the Bundesliga and of course Xabi has a bigger mission in the UCL league, if he succeeds in bringing Leverkusen to the semifinals, of course this will have an impact on his career in the future. especially yesterday they managed to beat Inter Milan very impressively.
They realized that fact last season already, haha. They knew they had a magic run on their hands and replicating something like that is as good as impossible. Not only because it's tough to stay on the same level but also because you basically woke up a sleeping giant. Bayern won 11 seasons in a row and the previous one was nothing more than a slip-up. Every time in the past they showed some kind of weakness in 1 season they always came back even stronger.
So yeah, that's why Leverkusen, even if they took their strong performance from last season into the next one, would have to deal with a different Bayern Munich than what we have seen last year.
Bringing Leverkusen in the semi finals is a huge task, it's funny you even mention that. I doubt it's possible but of course there are always surprises. Nobody would have thought Dortmund could reach the final last year, especially after the first games in the group stage where they were 1 game away from elimination.