Marca: “Xabi I. of Germany: Bayer Leverkusen conquers the first Bundesliga championship in its history. What neither Borussia Dortmund nor RB Leipzig managed at the time, Bayer Leverkusen managed to do: end the tyranny of Bayern.”
Mundo Sports: “Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso is already a legend.”
As: “Bayer Leverkusen is champion. Xabi is champion. Football is champion. After eleven years of Bayern’s tyranny, the king has changed in the Bundesliga for the first time.”
Sports (all Spain): “Xabi Alonso rules the Bundesliga with Leverkusen. A year and a half to bury 119 years of history. A year and a half to lead a broken, identityless and submerged team in the league into a dimension from which it was at its most daring “I only dreamed for a year and a half to tell all of Germany that there was something more in the Bundesliga than Bayern.”
The Guardian: “Especially because of Bayer’s corporate support, the Leverkusen team hardly inspires greater sympathy among the German football audience. The plastic label continues to haunt them. So perhaps the greatest achievement of Alonso’s team this season was to create something so undeniably human. (… ) A new reality took shape, a separation between past torments and present fantasies, between the Leverkusen that exists now and the Leverkusen that will never exist again.”
Independent: “Bayer Leverkusen wins the championship and ends Bayern Munich’s streak of eleven titles. Leverkusen was down in the second half of the table when Xabi Alonso took over the team in October 2022. The Spaniard led the club to a historic title in its first full Season as coach (of a professional team).”
The Sun (all UK): “Fans rushed to celebrate before the final whistle as Bayer Leverkusen sealed their first ever Bundesliga title with a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen. Incredibly, Xabi Alonso’s men ended Bayern Munich’s 12-year grip on the crown, without losing a single game in the entire Bundesliga season.”
L’Equipe (France): “Bayer Leverkusen did not tremble. Unbeaten since the start of the season in all competitions (43 games), Xabi Alonso’s team converted their first match point on Sunday against Werder Bremen (5-0) and won their first championship title in Germany History is written. Winning the championship after eleven years of Bavarian hegemony is one thing. It’s another thing to win the championship with five games to go.
Corriere dello Sport: “A success that has been waiting for 120 years. (…) Xabi Alonso’s team today completed an extraordinary journey with 25 wins and 4 draws in 29 league games: 79 points, sixteen more than Bayern Munich and Stuttgart, who were able to win their games yesterday, which makes today’s triumph in the BayArena even better.”
Corriere della Sera (both Italy): “Bayer celebrates. A letter changes, but that changes the world. The ‘Neverkusen’, who are so called because they have never won anything significant in their history (just two trophies in 120 years ) defeated Werder Bremen 5-0 and celebrated in front of their fans thanks to goals from Boniface, Xhaka and Wirtz (hat trick).”