Goal scorer Robert Andrich (2nd from right), Odilon Kossounou (2nd from left) and colleagues celebrate the equalizer.
Photo: dpa/Marius Becker
The moment in which the madness around him entered the next round elicited an almost touching reaction from Xabi Alonso. To his left and right, Leverkusen players, coaches and officials were hopping, running and jumping across the pitch as if out of their minds, because it had actually happened again: a goal deep in stoppage time, this time to make it 2-2 against Stuttgart, the modern football fairytale of the invincibility of the German champions. And what was Alonso, the chief tamer of this incredible ensemble, doing? He turned elegantly, looking away from the cheering players. Then he smiled somewhat incredulously and briefly rubbed the back of his head with both hands.
The 42-year-old looked as embarrassed as a teenager on his first date – and later he rummaged through his memories a little. He won one World Cup and two European Championship titles with Spain and triumphed in the Champions League with Real Madrid and Liverpool. And now, in his first full season as coach of the Werkself, which is not only on the verge of winning two more trophies in addition to the championship, but is also seasoning the whole thing with plenty of drama and emotions week after week? “There is no explanation for why something like this happens in football,” Alonso simply raised his shoulders in amazement. And: “I haven’t experienced something like that so often.”
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Something like that – after the draw against VfB, that’s now 46 competitive games in a row without defeat, a unique value in Europe’s top leagues. But above all, it is the goals in extra time that his team produces like on an assembly line. Since Leverkusen won the national crown two weeks ago, they have equalized late in each of the three subsequent games: in the 1-1 draw at West Ham United in the quarter-finals of the Europa League after 89 minutes. And then a week ago in Dortmund and now against the Swabians it was really at the very last minute: In the duel with BVB, Josip Stanisic headed the 1-1 in the 97th minute, Robert Andrich scored against Stuttgart in the 96th minute.
The Stuttgart team, with their clever and ambitious coach Sebastian Hoeneß, has already delivered heroic duels to Alonso’s team twice this season: in the 1-1 first leg in the league in December – and in the 2-3 draw in the cup quarter-finals in March, as Bayer, after two VfB’s lead also only scored at the very end to win.
The background to Andrich’s last-minute equalizer caused a lot of trouble for Stuttgart: First, the newly substituted Pascal Stenzel caused a free kick with a rather gentle but also clumsy foul on Adli. When he sailed in front of the goal, Bayer attacker Victor Boniface pushed his opponent Anthony Rouault away from behind and then the ball bounced, before it landed at Andrich’s feet, onto the hand of Leverkusen central defender Piero Hincapie.
Goalscorer Andrich later discreetly brushed aside VfB coach Hoeneß’s frustration with the referee (“Unfortunately it was only the players who were really good”) by pointing out his own team’s last-minute strength. “It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence, it’s just brutal will,” explained the national player – before Lukas Hradecky also contributed a few basic thoughts.
“Actually, I have no words for why this madness continues,” Leverkusen’s gloved captain began, but then, as usual, a lot came to mind. He praised the fans who had ensured “that the arena kept cooking” and was also happy about the newly gained “adrenaline for the next week”. This is finally what will happen at AS Roma on Thursday Semi-final first leg in the Europa League – and it wasn’t just this weekend that it was clear to keeper Hradecky: “Our team knows no limits.”
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