Bundesliga
The end of “Vizekusen” is approaching: Bayer extends its lead
Bayer 04 Leverkusen goes into the last seven Bundesliga matchdays with a 13-point lead. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
The first defeat in the 39th competitive game of the season was in the air for a long time. But then Bayer Leverkusen turned the game around again – and a few hours later had another reason to be happy.
After their football weekend, which was perfect in all respects, the fans of Bayer Leverkusen are dealing with a luxury problem that normally only concerns FC Bayern. How many match days before the end will the factory club, long derided as runners-up, complete the first championship in the club’s history? In the home game against Werder Bremen in just under two weeks? Away in Dortmund? “There is still a bit of work to be done,” noted Bayer coach Xabi Alonso after the emotional 2-1 win against TSG Hoffenheim. But there are hardly any doubts about the title anymore.
“It’s one less game again, so the situation is a little better,” said Alonso, who had fans cheering on Friday with the announcement that he would stay in Leverkusen beyond the summer. The last-minute win against TSG followed a good 27 hours later, before rivals FC Bayern lost their nerve in the 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund that evening. Leverkusen goes into the remaining seven games with a 13-point lead. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, frustrated, sent a “congratulations” to the Rhineland on the title.
The club boss is excited
Leverkusen’s impressive run is truly worthy of the title. After just 27 match days, the undefeated team has already qualified for the Champions League. In addition, they already have more points than last year’s champions from Munich at the end of the season. Ideally, Leverkusen can even celebrate the title before the home game against Bremen – but for that to happen, Bayern would have to lose twice in a row.
Patrik Schick caused an enormous rush of emotions in Leverkusen with his winning goal in stoppage time and also visibly affected Fernando Carro. “My heart can’t take it much longer,” said the club boss with a laugh. His statement that national player Florian Wirtz, who is courted by many top European clubs, “will 100 percent definitely stay here this year,” rounded off the perfect weekend for Leverkusen.
A few steps to the title
In the Bundesliga, Bayer has only lost eight points in 27 games so far. There is also the last minute factor like against Hoffenheim. It was the fourth league game in which Bayer came back shortly before the end. “That was another milestone,” said Robert Andrich, who used a combination with Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah to equalize in the 88th minute.
Big development among the fans too
The thousands of Bayer fans cheered. Something has also developed around the successful team. While opposing fans used to make fun of Leverkusen for years because they often couldn’t fill their home arena and only a few fans traveled to away games, tickets for Bayer games are now sold out early. And the atmosphere in the BayArena is now so special that even the well-traveled Alonso is impressed.
“This connection with the fans is very special. They are a part of this victory. And for me a reason to work here so that they have something to celebrate,” he said. After his declaration of loyalty on Good Friday, “Thank you Xabi” scarves were sold at the entrances, and there were numerous posters with the coach’s name and hearts on the stands. When the line-up was announced, the coach was celebrated loudly again.
When the internal announcement of his whereabouts was made on Friday morning, the team “naturally applauded” him, said Schick, who scored his fourth competitive goal in stoppage time with the winning goal against Hoffenheim – in March alone. “We have this beautiful season, this incredible series. And it wouldn’t have been nice if he left after the season.”
Andrich reported that Alonso had “dryly announced that he wasn’t going anywhere. We were happy. Now we’ve got a catch that he’ll stay for another season. Now we want to achieve a lot more together.”