News

History Made – Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen Wins First Bundesliga Title

Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen Wins First Bundesliga Title

Bayer Leverkusen wins first Bundesliga title after trashing the fourth place side, Werder Bremen 5-0 at the BayArena (Leverkusen) on Sunday afternoon.

After breaking Bayern Munich’s German record of 32 games without a loss in all competitions in February, Alonso’s club is still unbeaten in all competitions this season. Currently, the run total across all contests is 43.

Victor Boniface’s penalty kick gave Leverkusen the lead in the 25th minute, and Granit Xhaka’s long-range goal in the second half gave the team even more comfort in front of the boisterous BayArena crowd.

In the 68th minute, Florian Wirtz put the finishing touches on a fantastic goal that gave Werder Bremen goalkeeper Michael Zetterer very little chance to save it. With a few minutes left, Wirtz scored once more, sending several supporters running onto the field. The supporters were asked to leave the turf by Wirtz and the other players, and the remainder of the game was played in the pyrotechnic haze.

More fans started running out of the stands as Wirtz finished his hat trick, leading the referee to sound the full-time whistle and setting off scenes of pure joy among the players, supporters, and staff. This caused even further interruption.

With Stuttgart and the Bavarian giants both 16 points behind, the outcome means that Bayern’s run of 11 straight Bundesliga titles has ended.

This completes Leverkusen’s amazing metamorphosis since Alonso became head coach in October 2022. After eight rounds of the previous season, the team was in second place; nevertheless, the former Spain international helped them to sixth place.

This season, they continued to build on that momentum thanks to the additions of Boniface, Xhaka, Jonas Hofmann, and Alejandro Grimaldo, who all settled in well and played significant roles in the team’s championship victory.

With the trophy, Leverkusen can finally shed the unwelcome “Neverkusen” label that has followed them about as Germany’s consistent runners-up. They last won a trophy in 1993. Bayer Leverkusen have finished second in the league five times, which is three more than any other team in the nation. They had not won the championship until this season.

The team notoriously finished the 2002 season without a trophy after losing the German Cup and Champions League finals and giving up a five-point Bundesliga lead in the final three rounds of play.

But a 3-0 victory over Bayern in February of this season helped allay worries of a similar collapse and showed that this Leverkusen club was capable of overcoming those past worries.