As of: April 15, 2024 10:09 a.m
Bayer Leverkusen are German football champions for the first time. The Werkself beat Werder Bremen 5-0 (1-0) on Sunday and thus secured the Bundesliga title five match days before the end of the season.
Werder tried their best to become a party crasher. Ultimately, coach Ole Werner and his protégés also had to realize that they were playing in the same league, but not currently in the same league as Leverkusen, who were still unbeaten across all competitions. The Bremen team thus became the first to congratulate Spanish coach Xabi Alonso’s team, which ended the dominance of record champions FC Bayern Munich that had lasted since 2013 by winning the title.
“No one will doubt that Bayer Leverkusen is the deserved German champion this year.”
Werder coach Ole Werner
Völler: “Now the term ‘Vizekusen’ is history”
“I know how much this first German championship title in the club’s history means to the entire club. It is the result of far-sighted, intelligent and passionate work,” said DFB sports director Rudi Völler.
The long-time Bayer managing director and former Werder striker saw from the stands how “Vizekusen” became “Meisterkusen”. “The consistency of the performances and results is unbelievable. I have never liked the term ‘Vizekusen’ – now it is history and rightly so,” added Völler.
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Werder midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt also had only words of praise for the new champions. “Congratulations to Leverkusen. They are playing a top season, huge compliment. They are playing really, really nice football,” said the 30-year-old. “Today we tried to straddle somehow. I think we did that really well over 60-65 minutes,” added Bittencourt, before criticizing: “But the first three goals conceded came too easily. And if you… Then you concede goals like that, then you can’t take anything with you.”
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His coach took the same line. “We did a lot of things very well up to the 60th minute. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough of anything compelling. But in the end the game ends 5-0, which shouldn’t happen to us at the height because we’re still behind at 0-3 are too naive. The result is too high and hurts,” said Werner.
The whole of Leverkusen is drowning in red and black
There was already a party atmosphere in Leverkusen many hours before kick-off. The colors red and black dominated in bars and kiosks, and flags and red smoke could be seen everywhere. The street sign on Bismarckstraße in front of the arena had also been pasted over – on Sunday the path was simply called “Xabi-Alonso-Allee”. Thousands of fans also gave the team a spectacular reception.
The Rhinelanders’ bus had to make its way through a huge crowd on the way to the stadium. “Only SVB will become German champions,” sang the supporters. Many fans in the stadium held up cardboard championship cups before the game started. Now the sovereign league leaders “only” had to win the game to complete their title win.
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Boniface penalty puts Bayer in the lead
The game then went as expected under the watchful eye of DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. Bayer was dominant from the start and repeatedly combined with fine moves forward. In the final third of the field, however, the home team lacked the necessary consistency. Bremen also defended consistently and with concentration. But then Julian Malatini came a step too late against Jonas Hofmann after a cross into the penalty area. After viewing the moving image, referee Harm Osmers awarded a penalty, which Victor Boniface converted to make it 1-0 for Bayer.
Replacement weakened Bremen tried hard, but harmless
Afterwards, Bremen had several opportunities for Leverkusen to avoid falling behind. Werder, for their part, were unable to create any significant scoring opportunities before half-time. The Hanseatic League, which was weakened by replacements and was missing, among other things, the suspended captain Marco Friedl and the injured attacking talent Justin Njinmah, still did a very good job within the scope of their possibilities.
“History owes us a bowl too.”
Bayer Leverkusens Vorstandschef Fernando Carro
Double strike by Xhaka and Wirtz ensures the decision
Even after the break, the Hanseatic League initially stood up well to Bayer. However, in the forward movement they remained too harmless. Leverkusen is a completely different story and despite being in the lead and having a difficult quarter-final first leg in the Europa League last Thursday against West Ham United (2-0), they kept the pace up. When Granit Shortly afterwards, substitute Florian Wirtz made the decision with Bayer’s third goal (68th).
After the national player scored to make it 4-0 (83′), there was a brief threat of chaos as some Leverkusen fans stormed onto the pitch. Pyros were also ignited. Clouds of smoke drifted through the stadium. The game was briefly interrupted. After Wirtz completed his hat trick in the last minute, Osmers didn’t whistle again. The rest were Leverkusen players celebrating exuberantly and Bremen residents quickly escaping to the dressing room.
Matchday 29, April 14, 2024 5:30 p.m
B. Leverkusen
5
Werder Bremen
0
Tore:
- 1:0
Boniface (25th, penalty kick)
B. Leverkusen:
Hradecky – Tapsoba, Tah, Kossounou – Tella (62. Frimpong), Xhaka (77. Palacios), Andrich, Hincapié (77. Grimaldo) – Yes. Hofmann, Boniface (62. Schick), Adli (46. Wirtz)
Werder Bremen:
Zetterer – Malatini, Groß, Veljkovic – Weiser, Lynen, Agu (69th Deman) – R. Schmid, Bittencourt (77th Hansen-Aaroen) – Woltemade (69th Kownacki), Ducksch
Viewers:
30210 (sold out)
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sports club | 14.04.2024 | 10:50 p.m