Football Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen still wants the treble after the championship title

Xabi Alonso is a man with extremely good manners – and he was excellently prepared for his big day. Behind his back there was humming and humming, banging, blaring and clanging. It was the noises that reached the head coach’s ears from inside the Leverkusen football arena. Thousands of happy fans stormed the pitch at the final whistle, celebrated an exuberant party and shed a tear every now and then – because of the club history that Señor Alonso, even though he only started his job at the Dhünn 18 months ago, is all too good knows.

The game at West Ham United on Thursday, in which Bayer can make it to the semi-finals of the Europa League like last year? The league duel on Sunday with Dortmund, to whom his team had just impressively shown how to stop Bayern’s endless reign? It doesn’t matter, said Alonso, who was quickly named “Xabi I of Germany” by the Spanish newspaper “Marca”. Instead, he emphasized: “Now is the moment we have to enjoy. For history, for this club – for the first time in 120 years.«

That’s how old the club is that completed its debut championship on Sunday with a 5-0 win against Bremen. A championship straight out of a picture book, and the architect of this work of art sent the right message: “It is,” emphasized Alonso, “healthy for the Bundesliga and for German football to see other teams win.” Other teams than that FC Bayern, who recently won the title eleven times in a row, three of them with Alonso himself in midfield.

Now Leverkusen has canceled the Munich team’s championship subscription in an impressive way: five match days before the end. With a lead of 16 points. With a football that is as light-footed as it is dominant, the Rhinelanders have managed to steal two records from FC Bayern, who are otherwise solely responsible for the records: being unbeaten in the league after 29 match days and having 79 out of 87 possible points in their account have.

As a homage to the coach responsible, the Leverkusen fans stuck over the signs on Bismarckstrasse, which runs directly past the stadium, on Sunday and renamed them Xabi-Alonso-Allee. Other streets in the chemical city were also renamed in the name of the man whose recipe for success includes not only the former world-class footballer’s vast wealth of experience but also his close relationship with his players.

During the press conference after the Bremen game, they missed Alonso’s obligatory beer shower. The coach immediately stood up, danced and sang with his players. And when the euphoric gang, who got the day off on Monday, had left, the 42-year-old Spaniard explained his general attitude: “I want to be close to the players. Because I know what they feel. This empathy is important – and I use this connection with the team.«

To a team that Simon Rolfes “definitely” sees as “competitive in the top group of the Bundesliga” next season. »That is an important reason why Xabi is staying here despite great interest from other clubs. He has the feeling that he is in the right place,” said Leverkusen’s sports director after a “not too long night” on Monday morning. And also reported that the players had “moved on” from the party in the stadium.

The nightly championship party together will certainly not harm the already strong solidarity in a team that is balanced at the highest level. Coach Alonso probably also suspected this when he shouted to the celebrating fans with an unbridled offensive spirit: “We want more. We want the cup and the Europa League.”

That would be three trophies in one season. For a club that previously won a total of two titles in 119 years – and whose first master coach praised the important preparatory work of many of his not-so-successful predecessors on Sunday. He mentioned Christoph Daum, Klaus Toppmöller and Roger Schmidt by name – and commented: “I want to share this with a lot of people.” After all, Xabi Alonso is a man with extremely good manners.