Bayer Leverkusen players are assured of winning their first German championship title, after their crushing victory against Werder Bremen on Sunday (5-0) at the BayArena.
Published on: 04/14/2024 – 7:22 p.m. Modified on: 04/14/2024 – 7:47 p.m.
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Bayer Leverkusen won the first German championship title in its history on Sunday April 14 at home, and, at the same time, ended eleven seasons of Bayern Munich’s hegemony over German football.
By outclassing Bremen 5-0 at the end of the 29th day of the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso’s men, still undefeated, secured a 16-point lead over Bayern Munich and Stuttgart. Five days before the end of the season, they can no longer be reached and seize the “Schale”, a trophy awarded to the champion which was the exclusive property of Munich between 2013 and 2023.
To win the title on the 29th day, the third earliest coronation after those of Bayern in 2014 (27th day) and in 2013 (28th day), Xabi Alonso’s men had to win on Sunday.
It was Leverkusen’s top scorer, Victor Boniface, who opened the scoring in the 25th minute from the penalty spot, after a foul on Jonas Hofmann punished after use of video assistance.
On the hour mark, Granit Xhaka doubled to provide thirty minutes of pure euphoria. Florian Wirtz in the 68th minute found himself at the end of a superb collective movement with a magnificent strike from 30 meters.
Undefeated in 43 matches
Wirtz scored his hat-trick at the end of the match, causing the pitch to invade before the final seconds, in an exceptional atmosphere. And the end of the match took place with a light red cloud, coming from the smoke bombs of the Leverkusen ultras.
Leverkusen played their 43rd match of the season without losing on Sunday (38 wins, 5 draws), matching Juventus Turin’s performance in 2011/12, with the difference being that the Bianconeri did not have a European Cup to be discussed at the time.
The Werskelf harvest (the “factory eleven”, nickname of the club team founded by the chemist Bayer in 1904) can continue in the coming weeks.
In the Europa League, they will face West Ham in London on Thursday in the quarter-final second leg, after a 2-0 home success three days ago. With this meeting in mind, Xabi Alonso left three of his best players (Florian Wirtz, Alejandro Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong) on the bench for the title match at kickoff.
And Lukas Hradecky’s teammates will close their season with the final of the German Cup (scheduled for May 25, three days after the final of the Europa League) against Kaiserslautern, residents of the 2nd division.
With AFP
