Nigerian international Victor Boniface, Leverkusen’s co-top scorer this season (11 league goals), put his team on the right track in the 25th minute, Granit Xhaka doubled the lead in the 68th and Florian Wirtz, who entered game at the start of the second half, set the BayArena on fire with a hat-trick. The pitch was then invaded by Leverkusen supporters a few seconds before the end of the match, in an exceptional atmosphere.
Without waiting for the end of the match, Leverkusen supporters invaded the field after the 4-0 scored by Florian Wirtz. — © CHRISTOPHER NEUNDORF / keystone-sda.ch
The pedestal on which Bayern Munich had been enthroned for more than a decade had already cracked at its base last season on the occasion of the eleventh coronation snatched in extremis – and on goal difference – from the hands of Borussia Dortmund on a goal from Jamal Musiala in the 88th minute of the last day.
Outsider at the start of the season
To put an end to Bayern’s domination, Bayer Leverkusen was only an outsider at the start of the season, while the club has for more than two decades been given the inglorious nickname of “Neverkusen” (from the English “never”, never), mocking this chronic inability to win the national title (notably in 2000 and 2002).
But this season, the team coached since the fall of 2022 by the Spaniard Bianconeri did not play in the European Cup). To make Bayern Munich pale in their best seasons under the Pep Guardiola era.
Also read: How to deprive Bayern of the title (by taking Swiss players)
And it was ultimately Bayern Munich who ended up cracking during a catastrophic month of February (four points taken out of twelve possible, when Leverkusen was full). Then we still had to hold on. In the second half of the season, the “Werkself” (“the factory eleven”, the club is originally a section of the “TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen eV”, an all-sports club created by the chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer) demonstrated of unshakeable faith in himself, offering a true ode to patience (six matches since January with goals in added time in the second half to result in five victories and one draw).
“We obviously didn’t imagine this at the start of the season, it came gradually when we started to win a lot of matches, with a dominating style of play,” said Granit Xhaka on DAZN. Arriving at the start of the season from Arsenal, the captain of the Swiss team immediately became a key element of the playing system desired by Xabi Alonso. For Xhaka, who had only won two Cups in eleven seasons abroad (Moenchengladbach and Arsenal), this title is a personal consecration.
Xabi Alonso in the big leagues
At 42, Xabi Alonso made his first coaching experience a triumphant entry into the big leagues. Appointed in October 2022 to replace Lucerne Gerardo Seoane, who had failed to confirm a very good first season (third place), while the club was 17th, the Basque coach was able to raise the club to a sixth place place in the league and a semi-final in the Europa League.
For his first coaching experience, Xabi Alonso left his mark and achieved a resounding feat. — © CHRISTOPHER NEUNDORF / keystone-sda.ch
With his team, he was able to create an attractive game, based however on a solid defensive foundation. This season, his team is still in the running in the Europa League (quarter-final return Thursday in London against West Ham after a 2-0 first leg victory) and in the German Cup (final on May 25 against Kaiserslautern, resident of 2nd division).
And it’s perhaps not over, since the strategic coach has decided to continue the adventure in Leverkusen next season, despite the desires of two major Europeans, Liverpool in search of a successor to Jürgen Klopp, and Bayern Munich, which decided to end its collaboration with Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season.
“I think that most of the players will be kept,” estimated Rudi Völler, current sporting director of the German selection and emblematic figure of the management of Leverkusen in the 1990s and 2000s, probably with the jewel Florian in mind. Wirtz.