Leverkusen is on the verge of winning the title. Bayer could start the championship party in the home game against Bremen – even before then. Coach Alonso is surprised.
Shortly before the first German championship title in the club’s history, the professionals at Bayer Leverkusen no longer wanted to use football phrases.
“We have to be aware that we can talk about the title from today because we can really make history,” said midfielder Granit Xhaka after the 1-0 win at 1. FC Union Berlin – the 41st competitive game in a row without defeat.
With a home win against Werder Bremen next Sunday, the Werkself can finally forget the runner-up title. If Bayern lose against 1. FC Köln on the Saturday before, Leverkusen will be uncatchable even without any help of their own. “It’s a dream for a lot of people. The fact that we can do it early is even nicer. That deserves a lot of respect for the team,” enthused Xhaka.
Alonso doesn’t want to celebrate yet
The early title win was made possible by the mistake of the left-behind pursuers from Munich. The long-time champions embarrassed themselves 2-3 at newly promoted team 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday. “When you find out after the game that Bayern lost, it’s twice as nice,” said Xhaka.
Of course, they had believed in the championship in Leverkusen after the course of the season – but so early? “My plan was a little later,” said coach Xabi Alonso. Although the title is almost certain, the Spaniard urged patience: “The situation is great, but we don’t want to celebrate yet. We’ll wait a bit.”
Wirtz scores the winning goal from a penalty
In front of 22,012 spectators in the Alten Försterei stadium, Florian Wirtz (45th minute + 8/hand penalty) scored for the guests, who played in the majority for a long time after Union’s Robin Gosens (45th + 3) was sent off. The Berliners missed an important step towards staying in the league, but still have a small cushion of six points on the relegation spot.
With the success in Köpenick, the Werkself also equalized a Bundesliga record, as no team has ever gone more than 28 games in a row undefeated in one season. Bayern have achieved these series in 2013/14 under coach Pep Guardiola and BVB in 2011/12 under Jürgen Klopp.
Wild injury time
The Werkself didn’t appear masterful in Berlin, but they dominated the game. But no matter what Bayer tried to do in the game, Union goalkeeper Frederik Rönnow was there. The home team hardly got a breather, but they were still the expected nasty opponents, who went into the duels confidently and stood compactly at the back. Only the forward play hardly worked again.
Before the break, events came to a head. First Gosens saw the yellow-red card after repeated foul play. Then the ball somehow ended up in the Berlin goal. Referee Benjamin Brand initially ruled it offside – and after looking at the screen, a hand penalty. Union captain Christopher Trimmel deflected a shot in the penalty area with his arm. Wirtz converted safely, Trimmel saw no card for his offense.
Source: Stern
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