Leverkusen defeated Werder Bremen 5-0 to win the Bundesliga with five games remaining, ending Bayern's run of 11 consecutive titles.
Unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen defeated Werder Bremen 5-0 to win their first Bundesliga title and break Bayern Munich's 11-year stranglehold on the league.
Xabi Alonso's side are unbeaten in a league record 29 games this season, clinching their first trophy since 1993 and are 16 points clear of Bayern with five games remaining.
They have reached the German Cup final and the Europa League quarter-finals this season and can add another title as they have a 2-0 advantage over West Ham United in the first leg.
Leverkusen took no chances, with Florian Wirths scoring a hat-trick to seal the title at the first chance, extending their unbeaten run this season to an astonishing 43 games.
“This is indescribable,” said Germany's Wirths. “Personally, I still cannot understand that something like this happened. I need some time in the changing room to understand what we have achieved.
“Looking at what happened last season, I couldn’t have imagined something like this.”
Xabi Alonso, who took over as manager in October 2022 when Leverkusen were in the relegation zone, reflected on ending Bayern's dominance.
“Maybe it would be healthy for the Bundesliga and for German football for another team to win,” said Alonso, who won three Bundesliga titles with Bayern as a player between 2015 and 2017.
“It's a great joy and we have to enjoy it. We need a little more time to realize what we have achieved. But this is the best moment and yes, next time. Let's see what happens,'' Alonso said, referring to other trophies the team could win this season.
“But now it's time to celebrate.”
history.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen become candidates for the German national team for the first time in history
Bayern Munich has been in the lead for 11 years #Bundesliga Defeated by Xabi Alonso's Welkself. pic.twitter.com/ajpZdgH2Rj
— Matt Ford (@matt_4d) April 14, 2024
Victor Bonifatius, starting his first Bundesliga game since December due to injury, eased Leverkusen's nerves with an opening goal from the penalty spot, before Granit Xhaka fired in an audacious long-range shot to score two with 30 minutes remaining. -0. .
Bremen then equalized with substitute Wirtz scoring the same goal as Xhaka and adding another goal on the counter in the 83rd minute, scoring the game-ending third goal and completing his first career hat-trick.
When Leverkusen scored their fourth goal with seven minutes left, fans had already flooded the field, and the final minutes were played amid thick red smoke from supporters' fireworks, with players on the Leverkusen bench breaking into song. They clapped, danced, and hugged each other.
The fifth goal in the 90th minute drew even more fans (this time several hundred) onto the field, and the referee ended the game amid confusion and jubilation. Thousands of supporters gathered on the field, waving flags, smoke bombs and cardboard copies of the Bundesliga trophy.
Leverkusen have finally shed their long-standing reputation as runners-up, finishing second in the league five times and once in the Champions League.
This title puts a firm spotlight on the industrial city of just under 170,000 people, which has been overshadowed by its larger, more famous neighbors.
“Not Cologne or Düsseldorf, no, we're home,” are the third lines of the club song that plays just before kick-off.
The club started 120 years ago as a team of workers for the Bayer pharmaceutical giant and is a rare exception in Germany, where most clubs are majority-controlled by their members under the so-called 50+1 rule.