Bayer Leverkusen defeated Werder Bremen 0:5 and won the historic championship/Sport1
"Leverkusen is the best team in Europe, and it is capable of completing a season without a loss," stated Dimitar Berbatov in January. The team did not like to hear the forecast of the ex-Bulgarian. No one except him dared to talk then even about a championship, because the fear of the sediments of the past is very great. Leverkusen was not only considered a cursed team, it even carried the nickname that perpetuated the losers. "Navarkuzen" - that's how it's been known all over the continent for more than two decades.
Contrary to popular belief outside of Germany, this name was not invented in 2002, but even before Barbatov signed with the club. In the 2001/02 season, Leverkusen did lose 3 titles it dreamed of winning and was left empty-handed in May, but it was still a wonderful experience, and it won wide sympathy in Germany thanks to qualifying for the Champions League final. The way it blew away Liverpool and Manchester United was impressive, and in the final itself, the team of the adventurous coach Klaus Topmüller was close to beating Real Madrid in Glasgow. Although they succumbed to Zinedine Zidane's legendary goal, the winner's outstanding player on the grass was Iker Casillas between the posts.
The Unterhaching disaster left a trauma
In short, the collapse in the final rounds of the Bundesliga in 2002 was frustrating, and the loss in the German Cup final was also hard to digest, but few wanted to mock the brave Leverkusen players then. The situation was quite different two years earlier, in May 2000, when this lapse was truly bizarre and grotesque. In the last round, the team only needed a draw in the tiny Unterhaching stadium, and coach Christoph Daum declared with a committee: "We will get through this, and become champions. It is closed." With such statements, it is not easy to imagine the complacency among the players, who were even required to answer questions like: "Which song do you want to hear in the festive parade?" throughout the week.
Bayern, who trailed behind the opponent by 3 points, recently engaged in a psychological war. "In extreme situations, people tend to lose their tempers, and Leverkusen is in an extreme situation. Daum will never finish ahead of us. Leverkusen is afraid of us," said the almighty CEO Ollie Hans. And that's exactly what happened. Michael Ballack scored an own goal in the 21st minute. Without putting any pressure on him, and from there an unusual show of defeatism developed. Leverkusen's players, who were so confident in themselves in the previous games, felt that their knees were shaking, and nothing went against the determined fight of the underdog from the southern suburbs of Munich.
Unterhaching also scored in the second half and won 0 :2, and the miracle did not take pity on the beaten opponent. So he put the term "Navarkusen" in the club, even when all the players and managers have already changed. The fact that Xavi Alonso removed it Already in his first full season as a coach is an incredible achievement by any standards, but the script is all the more miraculous because Leverkusen is now within touching distance of a historic unbeaten season in the Bundesliga - something no team, including Bayern, has ever managed to do. .
Even Bayern didn't have an undefeated season
In fact, very few teams have recorded an undefeated season in a senior European league. In the modern era there have only been 3 such champions - Fabio Capello's Milan in 1991/92, Arsenal in the famous season in 2003/04, and Antonio Conte's Juventus in 2011/12 then the record was kept unbeaten because Solly Montari's goal was disallowed in the top game Against Milan. Also, there was the odd case of Perugia who finished an entire season unbeaten in 1978/79 but were ranked second because they ended too many games in a draw.
In Germany, the record is one loss, and it was set by Bayern Munich twice. The first was in 1987/88, so it was definitely a subversive season with 13 draws for the champion. The second belongs to Jupp Heynckes in the wonderful treble season in 2012/13, which is the best season in German history. The Bavarians then finished with 29 wins, 4 draws and a single loss, ironically and symbolically against Leverkusen. It happened at the Allianz Arena back in October, when Sidney Sam, then a rising star in German football, scored a late and dramatic 1-2 at the Allianz Arena. Therefore, the possibility of an undefeated season was not relevant at all. It was much more tangible in Pep Guardiola's debut season in 2013/14, which lost for the first time in round 29.
Well, Leverkusen has now overtaken her - she is celebrating a historic first championship with a record 29 consecutive games without a loss from the start of the season. When the record is so close, it is easy to forget that the whole story is a matter of luck, because in the fourth round she was behind in the Allianz Arena, in a game that was not even defined as particularly important at the time. Both teams came to it with a perfect record, but the common opinion was that Leverkusen had no real chance of winning the championship, and Bayern was supposed to travel to title number 12 in a row. In fact, Bayern despised Leverkusen so much that they transferred to their ranks in the summer on loan the defensive player Rabbi Goni Josip Stanisic - and in retrospect it was a serious mistake.
Critical goals during injuries
Xabi Alonso's side put on a show that evening, but the issue of the club's loss hovered over the pitch. She deserved to win, but in the 86th minute Matis Tal broke through and scored for Leon Goretzka who made it 1:2 - and that was supposed to be the end for the cheeky underdog. But then the miracle happened. Alphonso Davies committed a borderline and unnecessary foul in the box during injury time, the referee whistled for a penalty to the VAR requirement, and Berkusen got a point. This was the moment when self-confidence was upgraded by hundreds of percent. "We realized that we are capable of dealing with Bayern," said sporting director Simon Rolfes. From there, the cohesive group went on a streak of 8 consecutive victories and became the hit of the season.
The fixed formation with prolific wing players closing the entire wing has become a well-oiled machine. Jeremy Frimpong on the right and Alex Grimaldo on the left scored and cooked at pace, and in the center everything went through Granit Xhaka. The former Arsenal captain, who was considered an unstable player with a short fuse in London, upgraded under the guidance of the Basque mentor to the best navigator in the league, and more than justified the investment in him. In fact, all the purchases of Fago Ball, and the budget was not breached at all, because almost all of them were financed by the sale of the extremist Moussa Diaby to Aston Villa - and he did not fit Xavi Alonso's method at all anyway. With Grimaldo arriving on a free transfer, veteran Jonas Hoffmann who added a ton of creativity and experience, and Nigerian striker Victor Boniface slotting right into the right slot, it was close to perfect casting.
And so, the legend was written week after week, but when Berbatov released the statement to the air, the fear of disintegration was still great. Because Leverkusen had Nerkusen, and something had to go wrong, while Bayern was expected to press the pedal in the second round. This scenario has become much less logical thanks to the leader's first two games of the new year. They won in Augsburg with a goal in the 94th minute, then twice came back from behind in their home stadium of the formidable Leipzig to take all the points again with 3:2 in injury time. The message was completely clear - it is very difficult to divert the team from the track of victories, and it was well received not only externally. His supreme importance was within the club. The players knew that the symbol on the shirts really didn't have to make them losers.
Xavi Alonso - style and modesty
Xavi Alonso was the most vital factor. He brought an aura of winning from the first moment, as someone who won all the titles with Spain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, and was also a part of that Liverpool comeback in the Champions League final in 2005. He learned from Rafa Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola. But he knew exactly what Leverkusen fans felt at the beginning of the millennium. As a young midfielder at Real Sociedad, he led a team that played mesmerizing football to the top of the Spanish league in 2003 and came within touching distance of a historic championship, but a loss in the penultimate round prevented that - and Real Madrid were crowned.
This memory cannot be erased, and Baski has a great combination of style and modesty. He is very authoritative, and his training is physically and mentally demanding, but unlike some superstars, he does not take himself too seriously. For him, football is not only work but also pleasure, and there is room for a lot of humor. This is reflected in the interviews he gives, and ESPN journalist Archie Rind-Tott has jokingly adopted Xavi Alonso as someone who brings him luck. "You're coming on Saturday, aren't you?", the coach asked him before the season's game against Bayern in February, and was happy to receive a positive answer.
Leverkusen's advantage over the champions was then two points, and according to all historical dictates, they should have trembled in fear and lost. Instead, her self-belief was many times greater compared to the disintegrated Bavarians, and the leader simply trampled the seemingly formidable opponent 0:3. The fact that Stanisic, whose ticket belongs to Bayern, scored the critical first goal only emphasized how much of a loser the outgoing champions are this season. Naturally, Leverkusen felt even more Viennese, and after this decisive result even the skeptics and cynics no longer dared to devour her - especially when she continued to show an iron character.
Florian Wirtz - a star worth stealing
It turned out that the current Leverkusen cannot be beaten. Even when she was on the verge of embarrassing losses to the Azeri Karabakh in the Europa League, she did not lose her temper, continued to play patiently in her style, and found a way to celebrate at the end. Patrick Schick made it 2:2 in the 93rd minute of the away game, and scored a brace in injury time to complete a maddening comeback at home and win 2:3. The Czech, who has suffered from too many injuries, returned to fitness to lead the charge just as Boniface was injured earlier this year - a coincidence that showed how much luck had favored Leverkusen, as if to make up for everything that had happened in the past.
Of course, such a dream season is impossible without a superstar, and Leverkusen has one. And maybe it's symbolic that Florian Wirtz was born in 2003, and didn't even exist when Leverkusen lost the titles in 2000 and 2002. To add this genius, Leverkusen broke the gentleman's agreement that lasted two decades - she "stole" him from the academy of the regional rival Cologne, although the unwritten law forbade it. Already after his debut in the Bundesliga at the age of 17, it was clear that this was brilliance on an unusual scale, but then came the "punishment", because the playmaker tore ligaments in his knee and missed almost the entire year of 2022. It hurt Leverkusen badly last season, but this season he was fit, and rightly so For now, his balance stands at 11 goals and 10 assists in the league.
Xavi Alonso left him on the bench yesterday, along with the excellent Grimaldo and Frimpong, to save their strength for Thursday's Europa League quarter-final second leg against West Ham, but all played a part in the Championship game. Wirtz came on at halftime, and managed to score a hat trick in a 0:5 win over Bremen, in which Xhaka was also honored to score with a spectacular kick.
Instead of biting your nails and failing in the final round like before, the title was secured in mid-April, with a spectacular goal show. 25 wins and 4 draws in 29 rounds - this is an unusual and unimaginable balance. This is the Berkusen of the season, and now all that remains is to wait and see if it will make European history and end the season without a loss in all formats. She will meet Kaiserlautern from the bottom of the second division in the cup final, and the road to winning the Europa League also looks promising. A treble without losses has never happened. It would be appropriate if the current Leverkusen did so, and in any case Leverkusen it will no longer be. That word left the lexicon immediately.