Double is just the start of the journey for evolving Bayer Leverkusen
This was not how it was intended to happen. They had demonstrated that they were capable of falling, and badly.
to a rampaging Bayern Munich in the middle of the Covid DFB Pokal final in Berlin or to Zinedine Zidane’s iconic,
thunderous left-footer at Hampden Park. You might even add the Europa League semi-final from last year.
which José Mourinho and Roma miraculously managed to survive under the management of Xabi Alonso. a
bombardment in the BayArena (23 Leverkusen shots to Roma’s one) for a more contemporary spin.
But not this season.
The fact that Bayer Leverkusen lost the Europa League final against Atalanta on Wednesday in Dublin—and by a wide margin,
No less—rather than Die Werkself traveling there to pad their lines in the first place—is the best monument to their incredible season.
It doesn’t really do it justice that he had gone 51 games without losing before that. Alonso’s team has been unstoppable.
destroying everything in their path and, when they have fallen behind,
gradually entangling their rivals with more certainty. As they were in the Bundesliga this season,
the later-than-late equalizers and victories against Stuttgart, Borussia Dortmund, Qarabag, Roma,
and so on, gave the impression of one of Europe’s titans making gravity matter, as opposed to an upstart, first-time champion.
When we say that “it” shouldn’t have happened, we’re referring to
The reason we should actually be pinching ourselves is because this season has exceeded even our most extravagant expectations.
Leverkusen has evolved from a team to be appreciated and not overly patronized.
a representation of top-tier football, a practice run before their finest players join Bayern, Dortmund,
or another team to the monster, the irresistible, the unstoppable force. Their expectations of themselves, of Germany,
and of Germany and the continent as a whole have changed.
In the Pokal final on Saturday, second-tier underdog Kaiserslautern felt less of an underdog this time around.
despite their 70-year-old coach Friedhelm Funkel saying in the days preceding
the game that “I’ve never been more of an underdog in my career than in this game.
” Rather than having their incredible season finish in disappointment due to consecutive final failures,
Leverkusen seemed to deserve to complete the double.
Because even if a Bundesliga season without a loss had never been accomplished before,
The defeat to Atalanta had the potential to ruin it.
Alonso’s voice and stand-in on the field, Granit Xhaka, advocated for the entire group off it.
After working full-time in Dublin, he said, “The disappointment is huge.” In addition, he pushed his group to demonstrate their true abilities.
He went on, “Now we have to see what character this team really has.” Being undefeated for 51 games makes sticking together simple.
It’s time to find out who has character and who can stand up fast enough to continue.Our season cannot be ruined by this loss.
Not only was it the first loss, and the possibility of finishing the competitive season unbeaten vanished at the last one,
but it was also the way it happened. Leverkusen were forced into slackness and imprecision
at the end of a campaign marked by their constant control by an Atalanta team that used some
of their opponents’ and supposed betters’ best moves, staying fresh by expertly using their bench,
in recent weeks as well as in the final itself. This was a season of haste, harrying, and hurriedness like never before.
For Leverkusen, Berlin then turned into a struggle with their own feelings.
When he said that they “can only beat themselves,” former star Michael Ballack—a mainstay of the 2002 team
that blew a treble in less than a fortnight—put many people’s feelings into words.
Perhaps he wasn’t just alluding to the disparity in skill between his old club and Kaiserslautern.
but also to the necessity of responding to what happened in Dublin. After everything they’ve been through and done this season,
the question shouldn’t have been raised, but it was, and not in a hushed manner. What if our club hasn’t truly changed at all?
They were obviously not going to take any chances in the championship.
Matej Kovar had started 17 of the previous 18 cup matches, both locally and internationally.
Robert Andrich and Patrick Schick, two stronger, more physical players,
were also selected for the starting lineup. In the end, Leverkusen may not have had the desired victory, but they did get what they needed.
In the opening five minutes of the championship game,
Hradecky’s recall paid off when the Finn leaped to his right and stopped a hard shot from Daniel Hanslik.
His team felt reassured by that, and from then on, particularly after Xhaka’s first goal,
a trademark long-range rocket that nearly found the top corner of the net,
they threatened to cause the kind of temporary chaos that many had anticipated
after Leverkusen’s crushing of Fortuna Düsseldorf in the semi-finals in the first few days of April.
a reference to his celebration in Lisbon in 2014, when he ran on the field to celebrate Real Madrid’s last-gasp equalizer while serving a suspension.
This gesture also expressed the relief in the camp.
It was not quite that simple, as the champions were reduced to a man down in the last game of the season
after Odilon Kossounou received a harsh second yellow card just before halftime. Alonso made a lineup change during halftime.
as he has done numerous times this season, and Kaiserslautern was able to stay at a reasonable distance, even though the second goal never materialized.
Sunday’s festivities at a crowded BayArena carried over from Saturday night’s festivities on the field at the Olympiastadion.
Alonso will begin organizing for what comes after, or maybe even before, that well-earned celebration ends.
instructing the players to apply everything they learned from their time in Dublin to prepare for “the Champions League final next year in Munich.
” Alonso hasn’t decided to stay to pass the time or consider his alternatives moving forward.
Bayern Munich has a chance to strengthen their hold on the home market since, both on the field and in the boardroom, they are undergoing change.
The goal is to keep the team intact for the summer.
and it should be simpler with Alonso remaining (and star playmaker Florian Wirtz probably following suit).
Perhaps Leverkusen’s Berlin show fell short of the all-out, all-dancing lap of honor that many had anticipated from them in the championship game.
Instead, Alonso’s team demonstrated how much they value effort over skill.
continually changing and growing to discover answers—something they have done to astounding effect throughout the season.
They really are champions. They intend to keep it that way as well.
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