They are no longer Neverkusen; now they are Deutscher meister (German champion).
The impressive season was crowned with the title in the Bundesliga, and there are two more trophies in circulation, the Europa League (semi-finals) and the German Cup (final). The pharmacists are still undefeated, 46 matches in a row. The Spaniard made a force out of the club, which until this season was synonymous with losers, but all that was changed by the former ace of Real and Bayern, who will lead Bayer next season as well, even though he had options to choose where to continue his career.
Alonso took the Leverkusen helm at the beginning of October 2022, replacing Gerardo Seoane, who recorded five losses, two draws, and one win in his first eight games. At that moment, the team was in the 17th position of the league table, and a thick cumulonimbus of bitterness, frustration, and dissatisfaction had already accumulated over BayArena. He brought the half-sunken ship back above water level, redesigned the team’s geometry in the form of applying a new 3-4-3 (3-4-2-1) formation, and imposed a course that eventually led Bayer to sixth position in the national league last season and the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Not only did the former midfielder of Liverpool, Real, and Bayern bring Leverkusen stable results during 2022/2023, but his football ideas and philosophy, based on an attacking approach, combinatorics, and possession of the ball, laid a solid foundation for the current season.
Alonso is reaping the capital and fruits of past work.
Compared to last season, Alonso was left without winger Mousse Diaby (Aston Villa, 55 million euros), left back Mitchell Bakker (Atalanta, 10 million euros), and midfielder Kerem Demirbay (Galatasaray, 3.7 million euros), while, on the other hand, Nathan Tella (Southampton, 23.3 million euros), Victor Boniface (Union SG, 20.5 million euros), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal, 15 million euros), Jonas Hofmann (Monchengladbach, 10 million euros), Arthur (America-MG, 7 million euros), Matej Kovar (Manchester United, 5 million euros), Alejandro Grimaldo (Benfica, no compensation) and Josip Stanisic (Bayern, one-year loan) came to Leverkusen.
It all started on August 19, when they opened the season against Leipzig with a 3:2 victory.
Nine months later, they reached an amazing record of 25 wins, six draws, and 0 defeats, with a goal difference of 77:22 or 81 points won, 12 more than Bayern, with three rounds to go.
This masterpiece will be talked about and retold for years, and it surely already inspired a movie.
No matter how the other championships end, whoever becomes the champion, there will not be a more beautiful and deserved story this season than the one written in Germany. The time has come for rivers of beer to flow in Leverkusen instead of tears.
They deserved it.
