Bayer Leverkusen were bathed in the glow of a memorable moment on Saturday, when a 2-1 win over Augsburg made them the first club to finish a Bundesliga season unbeaten.
Leverkusen has been on this lap of honour for some time now. They were so smart this year and so much better than everyone else, that they won the championship for six weeks. They finished 18 numbers ahead of Bayern Munich, 17 ahead of Stuttgart, and their long unbeaten run was only backed up by the criteria they set from within.
But it’s been 51 games already.
On Saturday another day. When the name was secured in front of Werder Bremen in April, there was exorcism in their minds and euphoria in the air, and the power of decades of sadness wore off.
Not so on Saturday. The team’s coach didn’t get carried away by a wave of enthusiasts and made his way through the smoke of the flares on his way to the stadium. There was no explosion of joy, no pitch invasion and, really, not a hint of competitive tension in the air. Even the police officers sensed the atmosphere and spent the day lazily leaning against their vans in the sun.
Advertising
Inside the stadium there was no entication or flattery, none of those energies that normally swirl on a fit day. Instead, Leverkusen enthusiasts came here to drink slowly and pay homage to an ordinary team. It is not expected to be dismantled during the summer. It is possible that a player is newly sold. Maybe two. Coach Xabi Alonso remains, like Simón Rolfes, a member of the sport’s board of directors. But that was the last time they were all together, here, in what turned out to be a very rare moment.
Over the next seven days, Leverkusen will travel to Dublin on Wednesday for the Europa League final and then return to Germany to face Kaiserslautern in the DFB-Pokal final. Two more games and two more wins would be a hat-trick of unbeaten streaks and one of the most important seasons in the history of European football.
This is the tone of the occasion; It’s the Leverkusen parade: the last chance for fans and players to greet each other before setting off in search of perfection.
So there are wonderful days ahead and the excitement is still at its highest. But the ease with which Augsburg were eliminated – and the way Leverkusen have played since being crowned champions – is evidence of a team stuck at top speed, staying on pace and technically. tight, week after week.
Their ingenuity was admired, as were their many vanquished winners, but Leverkusen played with almost compulsive excellence at times. It’s easy to chase an unbeaten record when it’s in sight, unlike teams, like Augsburg on Saturday, who already have their minds set. in the summer.
But what happens 4 days after the win against West Ham United in London?Or 3 days later, in a bustling Westfalenstadion, facing a Borussia Dortmund side chasing their own ambitions?Or a very Stuttgart team with a 2-0 lead and a real feather almost in the cap.
Advertising
Leverkusen made it all the way to the 95th minute and beyond in those games, with their medals already around their necks and bigger matches on the horizon.
No one can go undefeated. The BayArena has identified it. It possibly wouldn’t have recovered like it did in April, but the noise is incessant, rising and falling, over and over again.
“Deutsche Fussball Meister, Deutsche Fussball Meister. . . SVB! (sportverein Bayer) »
Stronger and more powerful moment, precisely as his team deserved.
All the while, Hallelujah would rise and fall on the tannoy to salute the history of the Bundesliga. In doing so, players hugged each other in small groups, celebrating anything that still makes them smile when they’re old and gray. General manager Fernando Carro walked down the field, hugging the players he approached. It took a long time for those players to get their hands on the trophy and when they did, after it was lifted and bright red confetti was thrown onto the pitch, goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky carried it to the fans at the back, up to the Nordkurve and onto the kingpin’s platform.
– Seb Stafford-Bloor (@SebSB) May 18, 2024
He was as cowardly as Leverkusen had been all season. Alonso also rose to hold the trophy aloft in hands that grabbed it from all sides, like a Renaissance hero out of a dusty art gallery. Down on the field, the players had picked up giant flags from the pitch and waved to them as Hradecky handed the microphone to the kingpin to lead the BayArena chants for the last time of the season.
It was magical, but it wasn’t anymore. By the time the players returned to the locker room, the poker faces had returned. The hours after the game against Werder Bremen were crazy. This time there was more love than chaos; No one chased anyone with beer or doused anyone with champagne. Jérémie Frimpong hugged her mother and proudly declared to all the watching cameras that she was his mother. Jonathan Tah and Edmond Tapsoba met in silence, reflecting on what a huge good fortune this is.
Sounds good?#DeutscherMeisterSVB #Winnerkusen pic. twitter. com/XYAyrooIRa
– Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) May 18, 2024
Patrik Schick and Hradecky held their children in their arms. Granit Xhaka kissed his wife. Nathan Tella wrapped in the Nigerian flag.
It’s a quieter, more tender scene than before. It’s like any other day in a season that, surprisingly, wouldn’t have peaked.
Yes, Bayer Leverkusen is still perfect, but it’s not over yet.
(Top photo: Sascha Schuermann/AFP Getty Images)