Bundesliga
Leverkusen before winning the title: “Can make history”
The Bayer Leverkusen players are celebrated by the fans. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
The master bubbly is cold. Leverkusen winning the title is only a matter of time. The sooner the better – because the works club has other goals.
The goosebumps atmosphere Berlin was just a very small foretaste of what Bayer Leverkusen’s record hunters can experience next weekend.
The fans who traveled with them celebrated their invincible Werkself for minutes, coach Xabi Alonso’s team disappeared into the dressing room to deafening applause after the 1-0 win at 1. FC Union Berlin – and into what was possibly the most thrilling week in their club’s history.
“We have to be aware that we can talk about the title from today because we can really make history,” said midfielder Granit Xhaka after the 41st competitive game in a row without defeat. And the calculation is very simple: If Bayer wins against Werder Bremen next Sunday, Leverkusen will definitely be champions for the first time. If the day before the struggling rivals FC Bayern lose against Cologne and VfB Stuttgart against Eintracht Frankfurt, celebrations can even begin early on the Rhine.
“That speaks for us, that speaks for the team. So early,” said goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky in view of the seemingly gigantic lead of 16 points. 18 points are still up for grabs – the champion bubbly has long since been put out of use.
Alonso’s other plan
Since 2018, the championship has no longer been decided on matchday 29. “My plan was a little later,” even Bayer coach Xabi Alonso admitted. At the same time, the Spaniard urged patience: “The situation is great, but we don’t want to celebrate yet. We’ll wait a bit. Maybe we can celebrate something next Sunday. Nothing is over.”
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel sent championship greetings to the Rhine a week ago. After Munich’s next setback in Heidenheim (2:3), no one is likely to believe in a Bavarian Bundesliga fairy tale anymore. Even in Leverkusen, nobody took refuge in reserved football phrases anymore.
Bayer has three goals
The self-confidence is so great that the possible triple is now being discussed openly. “We had goals. One was the DFB Cup final. Goal number one achieved. At the weekend we can achieve goal number two. And then hopefully goal number three will come: get as far as possible in the Europa League, or even get something.” said Xhaka. “The sooner we become German champions, the more we can concentrate on the Europa League.”
Alonso praises “great mentality”
Bayer is the clear favorite in the cup final against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The championship title is almost certain and West Ham United are the underdogs in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. “We are not unbeatable, but if we continue with the mentality of doing our work every day in the same down-to-earth way as before, anything is possible,” said Xhaka aggressively. Just one title is not enough for Leverkusen in this fabulous season.
Who should stop the Werkself? This season, Bayer has proven time and again that the team can handle adversity and pressure. More than once she turned a game around in the final stages. In addition, there are dirty but important victories against compactly defending teams like Union Berlin, which, like on Saturday, were only decided by a penalty goal from national player Florian Wirtz.
“Congratulations on the win, congratulations on the title,” said Union coach Nenad Bjelica to Alonso during the press conference. The Spaniard simply smiled and remained silent.