Football Leverkusen won the title of German champion for the first time in its long history and still has the final of the Europa League and the final of the German Cup ahead of it.
Not only did Xabi Alonso’s team win the title after 120 years, but they also went undefeated so far, which is something incredible and unique. The current unbeaten run in all competitions is 49 games, which saw Leverkusen break Benfica Lisbon’s record from the 1960s. Let’s remember that it is exactly twenty years since Arsenal managed to win the English league without losing, since then nothing like this has happened.
The story of the current journey to glory began in the autumn of 2022, when Alonso took over the Leverkusen team. At that time, the team was in seventeenth place after nine rounds in the relegation zone. Nevertheless, at the end of the season, the team could celebrate promotion to European competitions from sixth place. And this year, the title in the league, which is the least exciting of the five main European competitions, because Bayern Munich has won it nineteen times in the last 25 years, eleven of which Bayern have won in the last eleven seasons.
Leverkusen came closest to the title in 2002 when they finished second in the league. He also lost the German Cup final and the famous Champions League final against Real Madrid. That’s also why Leverkusen was nicknamed “Neverkusen” because they never managed to win anything. Only the team from the 2023/2024 season was able to change that.
Alonso has managed to create a team with a winning mentality that never gives up. This season, Leverkusen managed to score 17 goals in the 90th minute or later. This is how the team scored crucial points. For example, in Leipzig, Leverkusen had only thirteen players at their disposal, they were losing, but they still managed to turn the result around and the decisive goal was scored in the set time. By the way, the same as in the previous round in Augsburg.
Xabi Alonso was already a winner as a player, his coaches included other winners: Ancelotti, Mourinho, Guardiola and in his peak years, for example, Benítez. Alonso played in the best clubs where it was a must to win every game. Losing was never an option and that also applies to current Leverkusen. If the players were able to turn the game around once and win in the allotted time, why couldn’t they do it a second time? And of course, if they can score fifteen times in a set, they know they can do it in the next game. The Leverkusen team managed to turn the match and score goals in the last minutes of the match into a ritual, to normalize it. Classically, teams that want to score a goal in a situation where there are a few minutes left are under pressure, they have trouble creating, scoring, their play is disrupted, so they randomly kick the ball forward. Not so Leverkusen, the players do not change their plans, they continue constructively and the result is just scoring goals.
Leverkusen’s current squad has a foundation in buying and selling over the last five years. Each of these years, Leverkusen sold their best player – Brandt for 25 million euros, Havertz for 80 million euros, Bailey left for 32 million euros, and before this season, Diaby for 55 million. This, of course, gave Leverkusen the funds to buy players. The key purchases came before this season, as Simon Rolfes, former Leverkusen player and current sporting director, mentioned, they managed to bring players in every position they needed, while always being the player who was at the top of the signings list. Something like this happens only rarely. Leverkusen brought in Xhaka and Hoffman not only for their ability on the pitch, but also for the organization of the cabin and as role models for the younger players. Boniface came from Belgium in the forward position. However, left-back Grimaldo, who came for free and has so far nine goals and thirteen assists in the Bundesliga, is often considered the best reinforcement. Significant reinforcements were Tella and Stanisič on loan from Bayern.
The result is a team that is balanced, has young energetic players, but also the experience of older players. Five players scored more than ten goals in all competitions, six players have ten or more assists per goal. The team is not completely dependent on any player, so even if Boniface, the best scorer at the time, went to the African championship and then got injured, practically nothing changed, a recovered Patrick Schick entered the lineup and other players scored goals.
The strategy that Alonso got on the field cannot be simply explained, let alone named. It is a total balance in which players use elements from different systems, they are not dependent on one style of play and one strategy. They use a gradual attack and a counterattack, they are very dangerous even from standard situations.
The first characteristic is the large number of passes that Leverkusen have averaged the most in the league this season per 90 minutes (659; Bundesliga average is 466). Leverkusen is third in the league in time of possession.
On the lawn, players constantly create “triangles” so that each player always has at least two options for who to shoot. The formation 3 – 5 – 2 very often changes to 4 – 2 – 3 – 1. Players are constantly looking for places, free space. The result is another typical element – always outplay the opponent so that Leverkusen has more players in the given place. Players in defense and “pivots” in midfield often start the game with slow passes between themselves, but as soon as they get out of the pressure of the opponent’s press, they quickly get the game into positions where they have the upper hand and the opponent loses organization. They often outnumber the opponent’s defense in the final third of the pitch, as there are five of them around the goal (striker, two attacking midfielders and two full-backs). The distribution of the attacking phase of the game is again completely balanced, 33% of attacks go through the left wing, 33% through the right, 34% through the middle.
The element of play that Leverkusen uses statistically the least in the German league is crosses into the box. This was also mentioned by Patrik Schick during the last national team meeting, the classic striker does not have such a role in Alonso’s system.
In the defensive phase, they play very intensively, Leverkusen is the first to win the ball, the players profess gegenpressing, where they try to win the ball immediately after losing it anywhere on the field.
No one is good enough for Leverkusen this year. In the 21st round, Leverkusen overcame Bayern 3-0 and increased its lead from two points to five for the first time since the start of the league. The decisive match, after which Leverkusen won the title, was symbolic. No restlessness, no nerves, Leverkusen played their game and won 5-0 with gem Wirtz coming on until the second half and still scoring three goals.
There are four games left in the season (the first of which will probably take place before this article is published) in the next two weeks. Even if the title for the German champion is already clear, Leverkusen is still playing for a lot. With Bochum and Augsburg for invincibility in the league, with Bergamo and Kaiserslautern for more trophies. If Leverkusen managed not to lose and to win two more trophies, we will witness a respectable entry in history.
Other questions are already heading for the next season. Will Alonso really stay? Will Wirtz and other players stay?
