Football: DFB Cup: Titles are becoming the new goal for Bayer Leverkusen

Worlds collided at the cup final in the Olympic Stadium, not only because Bayer Leverkusen, by far the best team in Germany, played against the second division team 1. FC Kaiserslautern and won with difficulty 1-0. The young coach Xabi Alonso, 42, competed against his 70-year-old colleague Friedhelm Funkel, who was actually retired, and was later celebrated with chants by both fan groups. Above all, however, two versions of Bayer Leverkusen met this Saturday evening in Berlin.

Up in the stands, tears flowed down the face of club icon Rudi Völler, who had retired from management two years ago without a title and whose Leverkusen mission had now miraculously come to an end with a gold cup and championship trophy – at least indirectly . Below, Fernando Carro, the current managing director, floated across the lawn, representing a kind of alternative to Völler. Carro’s openly expressed greed for titles and success, his fearlessness even in the face of seemingly overpowering opponents such as FC Bayern Munich, is definitely an aspect of the metamorphosis of the Vizekusen losers into the first-ever double winner.

Late in the evening, on the sidelines of the team’s celebration in the “Club Theater Berlin” on Potsdamer Platz, Carro also took a look into the future, for which the club is already planning new exploits. “You are very happy, but you have to stay at the same level,” said the managing director of the German champions and cup winners. »Bayern are of course historically the strongest team in Germany, we want to at least be able to stand up to them. The goal is always to be at the top.” To some observers, that sounded like a declaration of war, even if it came from the currently best German club.

Something like that would probably never have crossed Völler’s lips at such a moment, but Bayer Leverkusen has changed. It would have been interesting to see this team in the cup final against a stronger team than in a duel with the limited second division players from the Palatinate. A defeat could have done serious damage to this fabulous season in the context of the lost Europa League final against Bergamo.

There wasn’t much left in this final of the brilliance with which Bayer Leverkusen had played and generally defeated most of their opponents over the past few months. With a final show of strength, the team became the first club to remain unbeaten from the first to the last game in all national competitions. »We were a big team with great energy all season, and we showed that again today. It was a dream season,” said coach Xabi Alonso.

Granit Xhaka scored the goal of the day after a quarter of an hour, when Bayer were still celebrating their usual possession football and had a few chances. However, when Odilon Kossonou was sent off with a yellow-red card shortly before half-time, it was no longer about beauty and dominance, but about cleverness and commitment. »The most important thing was the faith of the team. “They were ready to fight with ten players,” praised Alonso.

As opponents, teams like VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund or Eintracht Frankfurt could probably have done more with this starting position than Kaiserslautern, but in the championship and cup all the circumstances somehow came together to form a flawless puzzle of success for Leverkusen. The opponent’s lack of quality also helped that evening. “I’m proud of my team for how they performed,” said their coach Funkel, although the FCK never really posed a threat even when they had the majority.

This last game of the season was not representative of the Werkself’s playing year; in most phases of the season, Leverkusen played breathtaking football, and in difficult moments they also received a little support from those forces that they cannot control themselves. Jonas Hofmann pointed out that “a lot of luck” and “a few referee decisions” had helped his team on the way to the double summit.

Experience has shown that this will not last forever; a new story will have to be written in the coming season – as a continuation of this unforgettable season. The biggest mistakes have often been made at the summit. In any case, Bayer Leverkusen is now a different club than it was a year ago. The players have a different reputation, just like coach Alonso. That will also be a challenge. And last but not least, this brilliant team can finally compete with the giants of European football in the Champions League.