Bayer Leverkusen have won the 2023-24 Bundesliga title after their 5-0 win over Werder Bremen.
Leverkusen’s victory moves them onto 79 points, meaning second-placed Bayern Munich and third-placed Stuttgart — both on 63 points after wins of their own on Saturday — cannot catch them even with five matches remaining in the season.
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Xabi Alonso’s side took the lead midway through the first half when striker Victor Boniface converted a penalty before former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka doubled their advantage on the hour mark. Florian Wirtz then scored a hat-trick to seal a famous victory at the BayArena.
Leverkusen’s Bundesliga title win is the first in the club’s history and ends Bayern’s era of dominance in Germany, with the Munich side having been crowned champions in the last 11 seasons. Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund in 2011-12 were the last team other than Bayern to lift the Bundesliga trophy, their second in a row.
Leverkusen have also not lost in all competitions this season and if they remain undefeated in the Bundesliga, they will be the first side in history to go a whole campaign without tasting defeat. They already hold the German record for most matches in a row unbeaten, which stands at 43 after Sunday’s win over Werder. The previous record was 33, set twice by Hansi Flick’s Bayern sides in 2020 and 2021.
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Leverkusen’s title has come thanks to contributions spread around the team, with Boniface and Wirtz their joint-top league scorers with 11 goals each. Left wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo has contributed nine goals, with right wing-back Jeremie Frimpong and attacking midfielder Wirtz contributing eight each. Grimaldo also has a league-high 11 assists, with Wirtz not far behind on 10.
Alonso took charge at Leverkusen in October 2022 with the team in the relegation zone. The 42-year-old quickly turned things around, with Leverkusen finishing sixth in the Bundesliga and securing Europa League qualification for this season.
BayArena right now. pic.twitter.com/D8CQNgn6h9
— Seb Stafford-Bloor (@SebSB) April 14, 2024
Leverkusen remain in Europa League contention and are on track to reach the semi-finals, following their 2-0 home win against West Ham United in Thursday’s quarter-final first leg. The second leg of that tie comes in four days.
Alonso’s unprecedented success with Leverkusen has seen him attract the attention of Bayern and Liverpool, two of his former clubs, who are both seeking a new head coach for the 2024-25 campaign after the announcements earlier this year that Thomas Tuchel and Jurgen Klopp respectively will leave their roles at the end of this season. But Alonso moved to clarify his future last month, stating publicly that he intends to remain at Leverkusen next season.
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The day Leverkusen shook off their ‘Neverkusen’ tag
Analysis from German football writer Seb Stafford-Bloor at Leverkusen’s BayArena
It is rare that footballing curses are broken so easily. Leverkusen have waited 120 years to win a first Bundesliga title. They have spent 22 years stewing over the trio of second-place finishes in 2002 that made them Vizekusen — Neverkusen — Germany’s club that never quite could.
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And yet their superiority this season has been so pronounced, that Sunday’s win over Werder Bremen never came with any doubt. Leverkusen took a 13-point lead into the game, leaving them with jeopardy. But that is only half the story: Xabi Alonso’s players have been good enough not to make anyone worry for a while.
When the Leverkusen coach pulled into view ahead of the game, thousands of fans had lined the roads leading to the BayArena to meet it. But there was no urgency and none of the anxiety that often pulses through big occasions. Even among supporters wearing shirts from those Vizekusen years, who have felt the game’s cruelty and are entitled to their neuroses, it was just a celebration. The coach snaked through a haze of red flair smoke, underneath fireworks, flags, and showers of beer.
On the pitch, the performance was as fitting as it could be. Boniface, who was so important to helping Alonso’s team build their attacking rhythm, but who missed so much of the season through injury, scored from the penalty spot to garnish the day with poetic justice. Xhaka and FWirtz, both of whom have claims to be Germany’s Footballer of the Year, each scored goals from distance that made the BayArena quiver with an ungodly noise and characterised the class with which their team has so often played.
It was easy in the end. But as it should have been: Leverkusen have just been so much better than anyone else in Germany.
(Insa Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)