Bayer Leverkusen with Xabi Alonso in the Bundesliga German champions

There is no doubt that Bayer Leverkusen is a worthy German champion in 2024, but the club still needed help from an unexpected source for the very last step over the finish line on Sunday evening. At the end of the 5-0 win against Werder Bremen, the Rhinelanders had to rely on the common sense of referee Harm Osmers, who ended the game after exactly 90 minutes and therefore much too early.

Following the goal to make it 5-0, hundreds of spectators ran onto the pitch for the second time; both times, amidst the overwhelming feeling of happiness, dark thoughts of abandoning the game arose. After Wirtz’s 4-0 win in the 83rd minute, the fans were persuaded to go back behind the boards, but after the 20-year-old attacker’s 5-0 win, that was hardly possible anymore. So Osmers decided to give a pragmatic final whistle. Very clever.

“It’s indescribable”

Now there was no stopping him, the place became a festival area, tears of joy flowed and Jeremie Frimpong was carried in his hands. There were also a few scuffles in the chaos with which this club has overcome its “Vicekusen trauma” forever. “It’s indescribable, I can’t even realize it yet,” said Wirtz in his first short television interview.

At some point, the stadium management played the classic “Viva España” in honor of the Spanish coach Xabi Alonso, which was fitting, especially since Alonso had once again proven what a special coach he is before this final step over the finish line.

During most phases of the season he always fielded his strongest team in the Bundesliga and usually rested his key players in the cup competitions. Against Bremen, in what many fans saw as the greatest moment in the club’s history, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo suddenly found themselves on the bench.

Because sober considerations had to lead to the realization that things with the championship couldn’t go wrong anyway, while a defeat on Thursday in the complicated Europa League second leg at West Ham United would be incredibly painful. But like everything Alonso has done this season, this move also worked.

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Bayer 04 German champions: This is how Leverkusen celebrates the title

After 25 minutes, Victor Boniface converted a penalty kick to make it 1-0, and when Wirtz was on the pitch in the second half, Granit Xhaka scored to make it 2-0 (60th minute), before the young German international followed up with three goals (68th minute). , 83., 90.). With this, the Leverkusen team have crowned an almost perfect season early on, although there are other great opportunities.

Deleted blemish

But this championship would remain the most precious triumph even if the other two possible titles followed. On the one hand, Leverkusen have already won the DFB Cup (1993) and the Europa League, which was then called the UEFA Cup (1988). Above all, however, the common legend of the eternal second place is primarily associated with the Bundesliga. This flaw has been deleted.

Therefore, in the historical context, this season seems like a defiant counter-reaction to the Bundesliga dramas of the past, during which coaches Christoph Daum (2000) and Klaus Toppmöller (2002) in particular missed great title opportunities. This time there was no let up, no bad luck, everything remained perfectly balanced.