Mastermind, architect, legend.
Those are just a few of the words Bayer Leverkusen fans used to describe Xabi Alonso. Under his management, the club has gone from being the ‘nearly men’ of football to champions in waiting.
Scarves with ‘Deutscher Meister 2024’ (German Champions 2024) and ‘Danke Xabi’ are already being sold outside the BayArena while a huge queue of fans lined up to buy unofficial ‘champions’ t-shirts on Friday.
They have waited a long time for this moment. The club is not called ‘Neverkusen’ for no reason. It became their nickname after they missed out on the title in dramatic fashion at the end of both the 1999-2000 and 2001-2022 season.
Neverkusen depicts the team’s image as perennial runners-up. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. That was until Alonso walked through the gates in October 2022. After taking the club from second bottom to sixth in the Bundesliga last season, Leverkusen are 42-games unbeaten this term - and one win from their first ever German title.
Alonso’s connection with Leverkusen’s fans only strengthened when he committed his future to the club, despite interest from Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. But he had to earn their trust at the start.
‘At first I was really sceptical,’ says Kara Head, who used to run Leverkusen’s English social media channels. ‘He had a great history as a player but hadn’t coached that much.’
Few could have anticipated just how remarkable this season would be.
‘I knew we had a good team with a good coach, but no one could have expected that we would have this unbeaten run,’ says fan Lara. ‘It’s crazy, 42 games and counting.’
Alonso is only 42 years old and one of his strengths is his ability to join in with training, showing his players how he wants
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