Bundesliga
Xabi Alonso and his Bayer Leverkusen side are invincible
Leverkusen needed two late goals against Hoffenheim to secure a win and remain undefeated in the Bundesliga this season as the lead Bayern by 13 points.
This season’s Bayer Leverkusen side under Xabi Alonso are invincible. Just a day after the Spanish coach announced that he plans to stay with the Werkself next season, his side showed tremendous personality as they were forced to dig deep on Saturday, trailing for the bulk of the home game against Hoffenheim.
A packed BayArena saw how goals in the 88th and 91st minutes secured the win and helped Leverkusen take another step closer, to what would be their first ever Bundesliga title in the club’s history as Alonso’s side retain their ‘undefeated’ tag in the current 2023-24 season.
With only seven games left to play, Leverkusen currently hold a gap of thirteen points over second placed Bayern Munich (with the Bavarian side set to face Dortmund on Saturday evening).
After Xabi Alonso’s decision to stay on as Leverkusen boss for another season there was a relaxed atmosphere at the Bay Arena and this may have impacted on the home side’s performance on Saturday afternoon so much so that after half an hour they found themselves behind on the scoreboard after Beier put the visitors ahead shortly after the 30 minute mark.
Leverkusen shook off their lethargy and penned Hoffenheim deep inside their half for the bulk of the second half and despite creating a myriad of chances area, were simply unable to find the net as Grimaldo, Schick, Frimpong and Borja Iglesias going close.
Just when it appeared that luck had deserted Leverkusen, Andrich pounced on a lose ball in the box to drive home from short range and just three minutes later, Schick slotted home from the six yard line to unleash an explosion of euphoria in the BayArena.
When can Leverkusen be proclaimed champions?
There are still 21 points on the table and Bayern Munich (and indeed every team down to fifth are still mathematically in the hunt) but these sides desperately need to see Leverkusen to start dropping some points and slip up in a minimum of four games.
Should this happen, Bayern themselves have no room for error and would need to put together a spectacular winning run but as things stand, the title is Leverkusen’s to lose.
As things stand, the earliest date on which the champaign in Leverkusen could be uncorked would be Matchday 29, on 13-14 April. For Xabi Alonso and his Werkself side to be Bundesliga champions, it requires Leverkusen to secure at least six points more than Bayern over the next three games, and at least two more than third-placed Stuttgart.
- 1 Hradecky
- 4 Jonathan Tah
- 12 Edmond Faycial Tapsoba (85')
- 3 Piero Hincapie Reyna (70')
- 20 Grimaldo
- 8 Robert Andrich
- 30 Jeremie Frimpong (85')
- 34 Xhaka
- 7 Jonas Hofmann (57')
- 14 Schick
- 10 Florian Wirtz
- Substitutes
- 18 Noah Mbamba
- 32 Gustavo Puerta
- 9 Borja Iglesias (70')
- 19 Nathan Tella (85')
- 6 Kouakou Odilon Kossounou
- 2 Josip Stanisic (85')
- 17 Matej Kovar
- 23 Adam Hlozek
- 21 Amine Adli (57')
- 1 Baumann
- 35 Tim Drexler
- 11 Florian Grillitsch
- 5 Ozan Kabak
- 19 David Jurásek
- 3 Kaderabek
- 40 Umut Tohumcu (72')
- 27 Kramaric (57')
- 16 Anton Stach
- 10 Wouter Weghorst (77')
- 14 Maximilian Beier (72')
- Substitutes
- 34 Stanley N'Soki
- 20 Finn Ole Becker
- 8 Dennis Geiger (72')
- 36 Nahuel Nicolas Noll
- 9 Ihlas Bebou (72')
- 25 Kevin Akpoguma
- 29 Skov
- 21 Marius Bulter (77')
- 6 Prömel (57')
Substitutions
Amine Adli (57', Jonas Hofmann), Grischa Prömel (57', Andrej Kramaric), Borja Iglesias (70', Piero Hincapié), Ihlas Bebou (72', Maximilian Beier), Dennis Geiger (72', Umut Tohumcu), Marius Bülter (77', Wout Weghorst), Josip Stanisic (85', Edmond Tapsoba), Nathan Tella (85', Jeremie Frimpong)
Goals
0-1, 32': Maximilian Beier, 1-1, 87': Robert Andrich, 2-1, 90': Schick
Cards
Referee: Deniz Aytekin
VAR Referee: Katrin Rafalski, Justus Zorn
Tim Drexler (18',Yellow)
