sport news Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Bayer Leverkusen and Xabi Alonso have ... trends now
Mastermind, architect, legend.
Those are just a few of the words Bayer Leverkusen fans used to describe Xabi Alonso. Under his management, the club has gone from being the ‘nearly men’ of football to champions in waiting.
Scarves with ‘Deutscher Meister 2024’ (German Champions 2024) and ‘Danke Xabi’ are already being sold outside the BayArena while a huge queue of fans lined up to buy unofficial ‘champions’ t-shirts on Friday.
They have waited a long time for this moment. The club is not called ‘Neverkusen’ for no reason. It became their nickname after they missed out on the title in dramatic fashion at the end of both the 1999-2000 and 2001-2022 season.
Neverkusen depicts the team’s image as perennial runners-up. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. That was until Alonso walked through the gates in October 2022. After taking the club from second bottom to sixth in the Bundesliga last season, Leverkusen are 42-games unbeaten this term - and one win from their first ever German title.
Xabi Alonso has masterminded Bayer Leverkusen's incredible season in the Bundesliga
The Spaniard has taken the club from second bottom to being on the brink of being champions
Bayer Leverkusen fans will no longer have to hear the name 'Neverkusen' after this campaign
Alonso’s connection with Leverkusen’s fans only strengthened when he committed his future to the club, despite interest from Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. But he had to earn their trust at the start.
‘At first I was really sceptical,’ says Kara Head, who used to run Leverkusen’s English social media channels. ‘He had a great history as a player but hadn’t coached that much.’
Few could have anticipated just how remarkable this season would be.
‘I knew we had a good team with a good coach, but no one could have expected that we would have this unbeaten run,’ says fan Lara. ‘It’s crazy, 42 games and counting.’
Alonso is only 42 years old and one of his strengths is his ability to join in with training, showing his players how he wants them to pass and move and the intensity they have to play at.
It is perhaps no surprise that somebody who has played under Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti has been able to make the transition from player to manager seamlessly.
‘It feels like he knows how to beat any team,’ Kara continues. ‘He finds a way, he makes the right substitutions, he reads the game so well. It’s like when he was a player, but now he has even more control. He’s a strategist. He’s somehow brought everything together in a perfect way. It shows you what a difference a coach can make.’
Supporting Leverkusen is described as a rollercoaster with constant ups and downs. The club has been building towards this success for some time, but Alonso was the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
Alonso has already committed his future to the club after being linked with a return to Liverpool or Bayern Munich
The club are on an incredible unbeaten run in the Bundesliga and set to win first-ever title
They club are also unbeaten in Europe and have reached the Europa League quarter-finals
‘The team has been playing beautiful football over the last decade or so, but they were a victim of their own mistakes, either in defence or attack,’ says fan Peter.
‘Xabi seems to have refined these areas and has a very effective style of football with lots of possession and different attacking options.
‘I see this as the conclusion of a long-term process, also related to the change of mentality of the club management. Hopefully this is the start of a glorious era.’
