The unbeatable masterclass in Leverkusen
“What we have done this season is incredible; we will never forget it in the future. “This is what coach Xabi Alonso said about a recently concluded crusade that will not only be forgotten by Leverkusen fans, but also by world football in general. The nickname “Neverkusen” was banned and spectacularly. From that point on, the Werkself would be famous for being double winners and being the first team to finish a Bundesliga season unbeaten.
“This achievement is exceptional, not only in Germany but also in Europe. To remain unbeaten is extraordinary,” Alonso continued. Bayer’s numbers and luck were also spectacular. For the first time in the club’s history, the German champions in the first division On matchday 29, the team won for the first time since Wolfsburg won the Meisterschale in 2009.
See: Xabi Alonso’s mix
Alonso’s men finished the Bundesliga crusade with 90 points, a score they had only beaten once before, against Jupp Heynckes’ Bayern Munich in 2012/13. The new champions also finished the season with a club-record 89 goals. “The total adventure And the season has been wonderful,” the 42-year-old strategist enthused. “Our goal in July was to have a smart season. We had clear goals and after three or four games I’m optimistic, [but] maybe not as big as What Happened Here. “
The scale of Leverkusen’s feat was further enhanced by a remarkable run to the UEFA Europa League final, where they ultimately lost to Atalanta. That setback was the only one in 53 games in a staggering season, with Bayer’s 51-match unbeaten run leading up to the Dublin tournament. a new continental record.
They would even come out of this failure by winning the DFB Cup in the last match of an epic season. “It will take us a little bit of time to understand it. It is very deserved to be undefeated champions. Amazing!” Alonso said of a team that included Bundesliga player of the season Florian Wirtz, division-leading passer Alex Grimaldo, fellow signings Granit Xhaka and Victor Boniface. Each player played their part in a crusade in which Bayer also stood out for fighting to the death. with several last-minute goals in all competitions that helped them achieve glory.
Watch: After all, it’s Leverkusen’s time
The extraordinary of Stuttgart
Just a year ago, Stuttgart celebrated their survival in the Bundesliga after a relegation play-off win against Hamburg. This time the Swabians lift their cups for second place in the Bundesliga and qualification for the UEFA Champions League. The club has been remodelled under the guidance of coach Sebastian Hoeneß, who demonstrated his long-term commitment to one of the most exciting teams of the moment in a 2023/24 campaign that produced the club’s highest achievements (73) and won (23) outstanding goals. .
“We have achieved something extraordinary,” Hoeneß explained. Together we have managed to take the VfB on the right path. It’s incredible that next season we bet on the Champions League; It’s something very special. Our goal should be to “Continue this path to re-identify VfB in the most sensitive part of the table. “
Forwards Serhou Guirassy and Deniz Undav helped Stuttgart return to glory; the latter played for MHPArena on loan from English club Brighton.
Watch: VfB is back on top
Learn about Stuttgart’s renaissance
Without the prolific Harry Kane, the Guinean foreigner Guirassy would have won the Torjägerkanone, the award for the best shooter in the department, and the European Golden Boot. The Stuttgart striker has scored 28 goals in 28 Bundesliga games. He is more than any other VfB player ever achieved in a top-flight season, while the 28-year-old’s 14 goals in the first 8 matchdays represented a new department-wide record.
Undav finished fourth among the top scorers with 18, meaning the Guirassy-Undav pair set a new club record with 46 goals for a scoring duo. Indeed, the magnitude of Stuttgart’s heroics is such that Undav, Chris Führich, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Waldemar Anton and Alexander Nübel were called up to Julian Nagelsmann’s German provisional squad for Euro 2024. While Germany’s organizational level against Hungary took a stand at the Stuttgart. MHPArena stadium on June 19, the VfB boys will feel even more at home.
See: Guirassy’s entire Bundesliga in 2023/24
The king of Kane reigns supreme
He arrived, he saw, he finished in the most sensible position in the scorers’ table. Kane’s arrival in the Bundesliga in the summer after his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur was as much news as the English striker’s start in German football.
When the striker scored on his Bundesliga debut in Bayern’s one-sided win over Werder Bremen in August, it was temporarily clear that there would be no era of mandatory adjustment for Kane. And so it turned out. The first player in Bundesliga history to score 36 goals in his first crusade (aided by 4 hat-tricks, something no other debutant had ever achieved) his overall season was only improved by all-time greats Robert Lewandowski and Gerd Müller.
Kane’s most productive past in career goals in the league came with his exclusive tally of 30 goals in a season with Spurs. He did it more than at Bayern and became the first Englishman to lift the Torjägerkanone. Kane’s compatriot Jadon Sancho, who returned to Borussia. Dortmund on loan: lately he leads as England’s all-time top scorer in the Bundesliga with 40, a figure that Bayern’s number 9 ends up surpassing in record time.
Watch: Harry Kane – season review
“I enjoy my experience in Germany,” the striker said in an interview with the Daily Mail. “It was a step I needed in my career for a new impetus, a new challenge and a new environment, and I’m pleased that I’ve made that decision. My long career is at Bayern Munich, I have a four-year contract and I’m enjoying it,” said the striker who finished his first season in Germany with 44 goals and 12 assists in forty-five games. Competitions.
The Champions League tastes like the Bundesliga
This European season has not had a distinctly German atmosphere with Dortmund and Leverkusen reaching the finals of the Champions League and Europa League respectively, but the fact that Euro 2024 is being held in Germany is also a reason for a birthday party in the Bundesliga country. Indeed, this remarkable sporting representation is expected to continue into the 2024/25 season, with Germany having five places in the new UEFA Champions League and eight places in European competitions in total.
BVB officially secured a new Champions League berth for next season’s Bundesliga when, ahead of the season match at Wembley, the Black and Yellows beat Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the tournament’s semi-finals, thanks to a strike by Niclas Füllkrug.
The additional position was awarded as part of UEFA’s review of European football’s elite competition and, thanks to the collective efforts of German clubs in 2023/24, the country’s coefficient is high enough to be one of the nations with five places in the new image. tournament.
In fact, if Dortmund were to beat Real Madrid in this season’s final, Germany would get a sixth place for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Powerful minnows add plenty of color
Of the many stories of well-being that the Bundesliga has over the course of an exciting season, Heidenheim and Mainz are among the best.
Promoted to the elite of German football for the first time as second-division champions last year, Heidenheim, under veteran coach Frank Schmidt, battled side by side with the Bundesliga in their first campaign.
From Jan-Niklas Beste, who scored Heidenheim’s first goal in the Bundesliga on matchday two, to the team’s usual victory over last season’s champions Bayern, the fans of the Baden-Württemberg team could rejoice. the form of an eighth position that, after Leverkusen’s victory in the DFB Cup, allowed Schmidt and company to become a European footballer in 2024/25.
Must-see: the ascent of Heidenheim
“The fact that we, as 1. FC Heidenheim 1846, can participate for the first time in a European festival is the culmination of our traditionally successful first season in the Bundesliga,” said club general manager Holger Sanwald after Heidenheim’s participation was confirmed. will participate in the UEFA Conference League play-offs. ” One thing is for sure,” Sanwald continued, “our team will continue to make history. “
Coach Schmidt added: “These two more European games at the start of the season are of course a big challenge, but we are already ahead. It will be an exciting start to the season with the first round. of the DFB Cup, the Conference League play-offs and the start of the Bundesliga in a few days.
Mainz will also be part of the Bundesliga for the start of the new season after the 05ers pulled off the most dramatic escape act under tactician Bo Henriksen. Looked doomed to the relegation zone when the Dane took the lead ahead of the Matchday 22 clash with Augsburg, Mainz embarked on a nine-game unbeaten run, picking up five wins behind to safety.
“It’s been a crazy three months,” the charismatic Henriksen said of the start of the season. “It was difficult. We’ve been under pressure for so long. However, it was fun to be part of an organization that I controlled in combination with the team, the staff, and the entire city. We’ve made a big step forward in the last thirteen games. “
Drama of the descent to the end
While Heidenheim started the season with the unwanted name of “1 relegation contender”, on their debut they had a smooth crusade on the most sensible flight. Instead, it is the more experienced clubs in the Bundesliga that have to fight for their prestige. at this level.
Darmstadt proposed Heidenheim, but it never took off. They climbed to eleventh position after back-to-back wins over Werder Bremen and Augsburg in October, but were at their lowest point since early December. A 2-0 win in Cologne in April meant they finished with 3 wins, but their relegation was shown the following week with a 1-0 home defeat to (yes, it had to be) Heidenheim, with 3 games to go. to develop.
Mainz had been in third place since matchday three, but nevertheless found a way out with a 3-0 win over Champions League runners-up Dortmund on the penultimate weekend to finish in 13th place after nine games unbeaten since. 1 defeat in Munich.
Despite everything, the pace of 05ers allowed Cologne not to escape. A home win against Bochum at the beginning of April sparked real confidence in salvation, but the 2-0 defeat to Darmstadt brought them back to earth. They found themselves 2-0 at home to Union Berlin on the penultimate weekend (they needed to win), things looked bleak for the Billy Goats.
See: The downhill roller coaster in Cologne
“We were dead,” defender Dominique Heintz said. Until Effzeh scored three times in the final minutes to turn the game around. “And suddenly you’re still alive,” Heintz added. It’s so strong,” said coach Timo. Schultz said of the applause when Damion Downs scored in stoppage time: “It’s possible that the position has taken off. I’m glad the roof is still in position. “
Unfortunately, all this was in the end in vain. Once again, they needed to win on the final day to have any chance of qualifying for the play-offs, but a complete defeat in Heidenheim, again with the elite minnows wielding the relegation punch, sounded the death knell for five years in the league. . Bundesliga for Cologne.
Although this is only a fraction of the drama of the last day of the season. Union had found themselves in the play-offs before matchday 34, while Bochum felt quite secure in 14th place, with Mainz among them. It means to be safe.
VfL had a bad day in Bremen, losing 4-1, but had to finish in the last 3 for most of the afternoon. It wasn’t until Union took the lead after 68 minutes against Freiburg, after missing a first-half penalty, that alarm bells started ringing.
Things changed when Freiburg equalised in the 85th minute, before the turning point when Union were awarded a second penalty in stoppage time. The Berliners had to score to get out of 16th place. Kevin Volland missed his shot on goal, but Janik Haberer drove in the goal. They bounce and provoke crazy scenes in Köpenick. ” We’re still here and that’s what counts!”Union interim coach Marco Grote said afterward.
Let us compare these feelings with those of the people of Bochum. For added security, they now had to face Fortuna Düsseldorf for two games to stay on their feet. And the atmosphere reached its lowest point when the Bundesliga 2 team won 3-0 at the Ruhrstadion. in the first leg.
“In football everything is imaginable,” Keven Schlotterbeck said provocatively. It is true, yes, but very few imagine that Bochum can really change things.
Thanks to those who did it, adding to the team that took the field in the second leg. VfL turned the tide with a 3-0 win in Düsseldorf to force extra time and eventually a penalty shoot-out. No team had ever overcome such a deficit in a Bundesliga play-off and there had not been a penalty shoot-out draw since 1988.
Watch: The downhill roller coaster in Bochum
“I told them before the penalty shootout that maybe they would make history and finish the games,” coach Heiko Butscher said at the end of a long night. They did, winning 6-5 on the spot to make a remarkable turnaround and keep Bochum in the Bundesliga for another year.
After 308 games, the drama of the 2023/24 season lasted until the last shot, when Atsuto Uchida shot from 12 meters. A simply remarkable end to a crusade that had everything to please in the Bundesliga.
The Bayern striker led England to a flawless victory: former Dortmund player Jude Bellingham scored the goal.
We take a look at the Bundesliga’s most sensible scoring team as Harry Kane’s England take on Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia in Germany. . .
Of the 985 goals scored in 2023/24, you are one of Harry Kane’s 36. But which goal did he vote for the most?
Football as it should be
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