A very gentle, strangely wise smile appeared on Xabi Alonso’s face when his Leverkusen championship team had accomplished their next crazy act. As is well known, the world loves football for those moments when the improbable succeeds. In which a magic can be felt that no one can explain, and in some places the followers have to wait many years for such events that go deep into people and leave something lasting. At Bayer Leverkusen this April, different manifestations of this amazing power can suddenly be experienced every week, it’s fascinating.
It was probably with this in mind that coach Xabi Alonso said a good hour after the final whistle of the breathtaking 2-2 draw against VfB Stuttgart that he was “sure” that this spring “will be remembered for many years to come”. Especially for winning the first German championship in the club’s history, but something of this tendency towards extreme drama that has gripped this club and this team with full force will also remain.
The fact that Leverkusen scored a goal in stoppage time for the 16th time this season is spectacular in itself, but the two weeks since April 14th seem downright absurd. There was the championship party including two storms in the 5-0 win against Werder Bremen when the situation threatened to get completely out of control. It would have been very human and perhaps even sensible to come to one’s senses after this ecstasy, to let the beautiful moment sink in, but nothing there: Since it’s no longer about winning the Bundesliga title, but only about staying overwhelmed, the dramaturgy has become even crazier.
Andrich: “It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence”
After BVB’s equalizing goal in the seventh minute of injury time, Alonso was still jumping around impulsively; after Robert Andrich’s 2-2 draw against Stuttgart (90+6), he simply enjoyed this next incomprehensible moment. “It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence, just pure will,” said Andrich, while Alonso seems increasingly perplexed in his search for insight: “I haven’t seen that that often in football, it’s difficult to explain.”
It almost seemed as if everyone wanted to help in some way in constructing the myth of the invincible. Because the Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy missed the chance to decide this game for VfB several times when he had the best opportunity to score a third goal (72nd, 87th) after goals from Chris Führich (47th) and Denis Undav (56th). left unused. Stuttgart’s Pascal Stenzel also played his part when he unnecessarily committed a foul in that memorable sixth minute of stoppage time and gave Leverkusen a free-kick chance that subsequently made it 2-2. And the team of referees around Felix Zwayer, who was overwhelmed by the emotionality of the game, also didn’t seem to want to ruin the moment with any petty application of the rules.
Scene in minute 90 + 1: Alonso takes off – Schick scores to make it 2-1 against Hoffenheim.Huebner
On the one hand, in Sebastian Hoeneß’s opinion, the injury time was unreasonably long, and on the other hand, the Stuttgart coach was of the opinion that “the goal had to be disallowed”. Before Andrich could finish, Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface gave defender Anthony Rouault a push with his arms as he jumped off to make a defensive header. The ball then bounced onto Amine Adli’s arm, both actions were worthy of discussion. “It’s about so much, it’s the 96th minute,” said Hoeneß, “the least it can do is look at it, I just can’t understand that.”
For the history of this season, the continuation of Leverkusen’s streak to 46 games without a single defeat in the Bundesliga, DFB Cup and European Cup is actually a good thing. Because the chance for something truly unique remains and because it is impressive to see the resilience not only this team, but the entire location has developed. Just a year and a half ago, it was unimaginable that Leverkusen’s traditionally frugal crowd would create the kind of high-energy atmosphere that the BayArena currently regularly fills. The audience contributed a lot to the resistance, which increased after Adli’s goal to make it 1:2 (66th) and ultimately led to the equalizer.
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Stuttgart’s anger was understandable, but they can actually get over the loss of two points quite well. Their lead over fifth-placed Borussia Dortmund has grown to seven points, and qualification for the Champions League can no longer be taken away from them. But they could also be proud of the special connection that was created with Bayer Leverkusen. The Werkself have now played against VfB three times this season, and all three games are among the most sophisticated and entertaining duels that the season has produced.
The matches in the Bundesliga ended in a draw, the quarter-finals in the DFB Cup were an early final for many observers, Bayer 04 won 3-2. With a winning goal in the 90th minute, how else? “The fact that we draw twice and lose once doesn’t do justice to the three games,” said Hoeneß.
Although FC Bayern is in second place in the table between these two teams, that doesn’t change the fact that Leverkusen and Stuttgart are currently playing better football. Because both clubs are inspired by a lightheartedness and a spirit of joy in the game that enables inspiring performances. “If someone beat us, I would have liked to see it be them,” said Lukas Hradecky, who was of course happy about the point. But perhaps he also suspected that they could actually make better use of their luck in the upcoming Europa League semi-final against AS Roma.
