Bayer Leverkusen win Bundesliga to end Bayern Munich’s 11-year title streak

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The football team Bayer Leverkusen has achieved their first-ever victory in the Bundesliga, thus breaking the 11-year reign of Bayern Munich as Germany's champion.

The group led by Xabi Alonso won the championship in a remarkable way with five matches left to play. They beat Werder Bremen at home with a score of 5-0, which caused a lot of joy and excitement for fans. This is the team's first win in the Bundesliga in the last 120 years.

Leverkusen may finish their first-ever season in the Bundesliga without a single defeat. They recently accomplished a rare feat by being the first team to beat Bayern in the German top flight since Borussia Dortmund, under Jurgen Klopp's management, won two consecutive titles in 2011 and 2012.

In February, Alonso's team dominated Bayern and won 3-0, creating a considerable lead of five points in the race for the title. Sadly, the champions experienced a downfall under Thomas Tuchel after a string of unexpected losses in the spring, and the lead became an insurmountable gap.

Alonso, a skilled midfielder who won the World Cup with Spain and achieved significant victories at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern, became a part of Leverkusen team in October 2022. The team was in the 17th position in the table due to just one win in their initial eight matches of the season.

Alonso's initial job as a manager was highly regarded due to his outstanding performance at Leverkusen, which led to him being sought after by several prominent European teams, including his previous employers Liverpool and Bayern.

Alonso has already shut down those rumors, stating last month that he had chosen to continue with Leverkusen for the upcoming season. The 42-year-old claimed that he still has a lot more to accomplish at the club before his mission is accomplished.

In addition to striving for an unprecedented undefeated 34-game season in the top division of German football, Leverkusen has the opportunity to win a remarkable treble by securing victories in both the German Cup and Europa League finals next month.

On May 25th, Leverkusen will face FC Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final, a team that is currently struggling to not be demoted from the second-tier Bundesliga 2. Also, Leverkusen has a 2-0 advantage going into the second match of their Europa League quarter-final against West Ham United.

If Leverkusen wins the Europa League, it will be a significant milestone for the club. Leverkusen has had a history of almost winning titles, and they were even labelled ‘Neverkusen’ after their heartbreaking defeat towards the end of the 2001-02 season. They were on the brink of achieving the treble but ended up as a runner-up in the Champions League, German Cup, and Bundesliga.

At the same time, Leverkusen's remarkable win has put an end to one of the lengthiest runs of consecutive victories in European football. This happened during the debut season of English captain Harry Kane with Bayern Munich.

Between the years 2013 and 2023, Bayern emerged victorious in 11 consecutive Bundesligas. However, in the previous season, they were only able to retain their title as champions of Germany due to Borussia Dortmund's last-day failure. The collapse was quite dramatic.

Kane has set new records for scoring goals since he was purchased for €100 million from Tottenham. He has already become the player with the most goals scored in a debut campaign in the Bundesliga. However, Bayern has not done well overall. In fact, it was made public in February that Tuchel would depart at the end of the season due to the team's weak defense of their title.

Leverkusen has the potential to be the top German champions in Bundesliga history. Alonso's team is only five victories away from surpassing Bayern's record of 91 points, which was set during the 2012/13 season.

During a tense match at BayArena, with the crowd roaring with excitement, Victor Boniface calmed everyone's nerves by scoring a penalty in the 25th minute. The penalty was awarded by referee Harm Osmers after consulting with the VAR, as Julian Malatin had fouled Jonas Hofmann in the box.

Again and again, Leverkusen faced multiple attacks from their opponents, but they managed to prevent them from scoring until Granit Xhaka made a powerful left-foot shot from a distance of 25 yards right on the one-hour mark, which effectively shut down any chance for Bremen to ruin the celebration.

Wirtz, who came on just before half-time, scored a goal by striking the ball high into the net from a comparable distance in the middle of the second half. A short moment of celebration occurred when he gained his second goal in the 83rd minute after running unchallenged towards the goal.

He scored three goals with an excellent execution, in the final moments of the game. This triggered another instance of fans running onto the field as Leverkusen secured their championship win with five games still to play in the season.

This article contains information gathered by journalists from PA.