It is still very doubtful that Bayern Leverkusen will become a big club as the strongest competitor in the Champions League. They performed well in the Bundesliga, but there is no guarantee that next season they will return to playing consistently and remain as champions in the Bundesliga. Especially if we talk about competition in the Champions League which is much more competitive and Man City, which is considered strong, could lose the opportunity to qualify for the semifinals and conversely the team that is not seeded will succeed in advancing to the final.
Even though we cannot underestimate Bayern Leverkusen's ability, if we look at the quality of players and experience, I agree that they will have a very difficult time getting to the quarter-finals or semi-finals next season in the Champions League. The competition in the Champions League is much tougher because there are many strong teams from various representatives and maybe it is not yet time for Xabi Alonso's men to go far there.
Bayern Leverkusen have signed any top qualities players for participating in UEFA Champion League and I don't sure they will face for the first participants after absent last two consecutives season. Xabi Alonso have showed his tactician last season when Bayern Leverkusen success get unbeaten in domestic league and impressive performance only one loss at UEFA Europe League final match against Atalanta. The management of Bayern Leverkusen have prepare with solid team and fully support for Xabi Alonso signed any top players for anticipating busy schedule matches next season in Champion League and domestic league.
New format seems more helpful for Bayern Leverkusen because league format get easily than old format each group filled by four teams and only qualified two top standings team each group. I don't think difficult for Bayern Leverkusen secure the top sixth standings in UEFA Champion League new format get qualified to knock out round.
Leverkusen's main strength is that they have a talented coach like Xabi Alonso. With the help of Alonso, we saw such great performances from Leverkusen last season. The Leverkusen squad was not very strong last season. Even then, the bonding between the players was very strong. Due to the good chemistry between the players, the Leverkusen team was able to remain unbeaten in the Bundesliga last season. Also the players were very confident.
It will be difficult for Leverkusen to perform well next season. But since Leverkusen has a coach as talented as Alonso. So we can expect a better performance from Leverkusen. But Leverkusen's players need to work harder. Leverkusen's players are quite talented. If the players are confident and work hard, they can do well in the next season as well.