Uche
Bayer Leverkusen wins the Bundesliga for the first time in its 119-year history, defeating Werder Bremen 5-0.
For the first time in their 119-year history, Bayer Leverkusen are German champions. A 5-0 hammering of Werder Bremen on Sunday secured the title on Matchday 29, with Xabi Alonso’s undefeated, ultra-impressive club scoring four goals in the second half.
Victor Boniface opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 25th minute, followed by Granit Xhaka in the 60th minute, and star Florian Wirtz with three goals in the closing 22 minutes of the game.
No more “Neverkusen”
The title is the first Bundesliga win for a club who had previously held the record for most second-place finishes without lifting the crown. That in no small part played into their brandishing as Neverkusen, a club who for many in Germany and beyond were defined by a 2001-02 season where they contrived to finish second to Bayern Munich in the final weeks of the season before losing in the finals of the DfB Pokal and Champions League. A first domestic league title will make a welcome addition to a trophy cabinet that so far comprises just two senior honors, the 1988 UEFA Cup and the 1993 German Cup.
By the end of the season, Xabi Alonso could well have doubled the list of major honors at the Bay Arena. His side are strong favorites to win May’s cup final against second-tier Kaiserslautern, they are also among the front runners to win the Europa League.
Leverkusen’s win ends Bayern’s 11-year reign at the top of the Bundesliga, a feat most would have thought unimaginable at the end of a summer which saw Thomas Tuchel’s side strengthened by the additions of Min-Jae Kim and, most notably, Harry Kane, whose remarkable goalscoring season was not even enough to keep his side in the hunt for top spot. Even if Germany’s footballing superpower were to be toppled there was no guarantee it would be Leverkusen to do it. In his first senior job, Alonso had dragged them up from the relegation zone since his appointment in December 2022, but Leverkusen were strong outsiders to win the title at the start of his first full season, priced at +4000 with bookmakers.
The challenge now is not up against Bayern, it’s against what we can do,” said Alonso.
Leverkusen pulled an emphatic decisively victory, and clear at the top with a 3-0 win over Bayern in February, a tactical triumph for Alonso that only served to heighten demand for him around the world.
When Saberner Strassed announced in February that Tuchel would be leaving at the end of the season, it raised the possibility that Bayern were attempting to place themselves at the top of the queue for Alonso’s services next summer. Liverpool, another of his former clubs, was also looking for Jurgen Klopp’s replacement. Then came the most astonishing moment of Leverkusen’s season.
This was not going to be another Monaco, Ajax, or even Leverkusen, stripped for parts by Bayern and the rest of Europe’s wealthy elite in 2002. Instead, on March 29, Alonso revealed that he would remain for the 2024-25 season.
“At this moment I feel this is the right place for me to be to develop as a coach,” he said. “I am a young coach, but I have to feel it, and right now I feel that this is the right place.”
That sense is based on the belief that he has a staff eager to grow alongside him. That means keeping the squad’s core together.
There may be a sale, similar to Moussa Diaby’s $64.5 million move to Aston Villa; Jeremie Frimpong has repeatedly been associated with top clubs in England and Europe, and people in the game feel he is one of the most likely to leave.
However, that trade helped fund the signings of first-team lynchpins Granit Xhaka, Alejandro Grimaldo, Jonas Hoffman, and Victor Boniface, so one selling should not cause concern in the Leverkusen camp.
Crucially, several of the most important figures in the Leverkusen squad are committed to staying with Alonso. Florian Wirtz, perhaps Europe’s best young creator, is expected to return for the following season.
Given the more conservative forecast for Premier League spending this summer, the chances of retaining young players like Boniface, Piero Hincapie, and Exequiel Palacios are also improving.
The good days may not be ended for the German champions.
